


Who knew the Lifestream connected to the Wormhole?

by NeutrinoClover



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Crossover, Dubious Science, Gen, Language Barrier, Medical Jargon, Sane Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII), bonding over being enhanced, complete at last, kinda made up though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23368972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeutrinoClover/pseuds/NeutrinoClover
Summary: The Deep Space Nine crew is investigating strange lifesigns found on Empok Nor when they discover a stasis chamber hidden on the station. Once they open it up, the even stranger man with silver hair and green eyes is not what anyone expected to see.The last thing Sephiroth remembers is dying in the Northern Crater, and the last thing he remembers clearly is the basement of the Shinra Mansion. He doesn't know where he is, or who these people are, or how he ended up here, but he's going to have to find out in order to get home.Assuming there'd be much of anything left for him on Gaia if he did.
Comments: 58
Kudos: 113





	1. Empok Nor

Julian's footsteps echoed in the empty corridors of Empok Nor. The other members of the investigative team were up ahead, but he had been distracted by the space station itself and lagged behind. 

Unlike most of the group, he had never been to Deep Space Nine's sister station before, and the similarities to his home were striking: twin layout, the same styling of the halls and doorways, even identical Cardassian numbers marking different sections. But where Deep Space Nine was bright and colorful, lively and well cared for, Empok Nor was dark and disused, the floor grimy with dust that had never been cleaned, and the dim emergency light the only supplement to his own torch. For all its similarity to Deep Space Nine, the empty station put him on edge. 

Maybe it was the way its familiar shapes hid such startling differences, or maybe it was its history under Cardassian leadership, without Deep Space Nine's recent redemption under Starfleet to soften the blow. Maybe it was simply that it had been abandoned here, without anyone to care for the station, and how that thought made him feel the lonely emptiness permeating every breath he took.

His comm drew his attention away from his musings - "Kira to Dr. Bashir. Quit dawdling and catch up - we may have found it."

"On my way Major. Just taking in the sights."

"Take them in once we've finished our mission, Doctor."

Julian turned back to the direction the rest of the team had left for and broke into a jog. Kira was right: they were here on a mission, not as tourists. The medical bay was just a corridor away and he was momentarily stunned to see the architecture of his own medbay so empty and abandoned. The only evidence of people was the team itself, gathered inside. In fact, they were circled around what was a private room near the back on DS9. Nothing interesting there, at least as far as he knew.

Kira turned to look at him. "Oh good: you made it at last. This seems to be the source of the anomalous readings we found from DS9, but they aren't that much clearer from here. Unfortunately, they still seem to have some life signs mixed up in them, so we don't want to do anything to harm whoever's in there," she said. "Have you ever seen any equipment like this before?"

He approached the strange machine that occupied the center of the room. It looked almost like a cross between a cryofreeze chamber and a water tank, albeit decorated with enough readouts, controls, and accessory tubes and wires to make it look like a plant draped in vines, or maybe some deep sea creature. The status readouts seemed to be either damaged or showing some sort of alarm, and when he pulled out his tricorder to reexamine the signal, it was almost the same as before. Not quite identical though, as now the life signs that had only been faint suggestions from DS9 were glaringly obvious: there was someone inside. Human, adult, male, at a first approximation.

"There's no question. Someone's in there. We have to get them out."

Kira nodded. "Do you know if there's a safe way to do that? I've never seen something like this before."

Julian shook his head, adding "No modern medical equipment is at all like this, not even Cardassian machines. I have no idea what it is."

"Excuse me," interrupted a quiet voice. It came from someone else on the away team - from Engineering by her uniform. "At the Academy, I took extra classes in history of technology, and that looks familiar. It's very similar to early suspended animation units."

"Can you work it?" Julian responded. "I think whoever's in there will be someone we'd want to know about," but she was already shaking her head before he even finished. 

"Not here, no. We don't have the equipment, and I'd want to have more of Engineering working on it. I might be able to move it though - if I remember correctly these were meant to function independently for long periods of time and most of these cables don't seem to be doing much."

Julian and Kira stepped back to let her get to work with the rest of the team.

"What do you think it is?" she said in an undertone.

"I can't tell. The readings say adult human male, but they don't seem quite right for that. It might just be the interference or whatever state the suspended animation has put him in, but I doubt whoever is in there is quite… regular."

"You mean enhanced? Like you?" The full force of her gaze was on him now and he found himself looking away. 

"Not like me. I don't show up as unusual on scans. But in some other manner, potentially."

She blew out a breath, gazing at the chamber as it was extracted from its nest. From this angle, it looked extraordinarily like a coffin. "Well, let's hope that he's as friendly as you then. Or, better yet, that all you're reading is interference from the equipment and he's completely normal."

"I hope so too."

~=~

Back on DS9, Julian couldn't quite stand by that hope. Of course it would be simpler if the mysterious individual turned out to be a perfectly normal human, but Julian didn't want him to be. If he turned out to be enhanced, then it would mark one of the very few times in Julian's life when he had met someone like him, someone else who didn't quite fit into normal society. He was almost hoping the stranger would turn out to have enhancements similar to Julian's, changed from normal enough to feel it, but close enough to hide in plain sight like Julian had. He wanted the chance to prove to himself, and to the rest of the world, that it didn't make him so different, and what could be better than another example? Someone else enhanced, but close to normal, to help prove that he wasn't the solitary exception. 

Of course, he knew it wasn't going to happen. Most likely the odd scans had just been interference and the man was as human as they came. Or perhaps simply half-human, his other parent's genetics obscured by the strange machinery. And even if he was enhanced, finding him locked in a strange tank on an abandoned Cardassian station did not bode well for his ordinariness.

Still, whatever it turned out to be, they would know soon, he concluded. The engineering team had almost managed to get the tank open, which would answer all their questions. He watched Miles instruct the technicians on how to unseal the lid, and stepped forward, ready to provide medical attention to the occupant. 

They were in a disused cargo bay on DS9, with an engineering crew, and himself and Nurse Cardez, with Jadzia and Major Kira overseeing. Jadzia was as close as she could get to the chamber without being entirely in the engineering crew's way, examining the strange machine in fascination - he would have to ask her what was so interesting about it later.

Slowly, slowly, the top of the tank began to unseal and split down the middle. The two halves swung out to either side, revealing the interior, and Julian stepped forward to get a better view.

The scans hadn't been wrong - there was no way the man lying immersed in thick, glowing, green liquid before him had been created naturally. He wasn't even similar enough to blend in, his creators having apparently chosen to go for ostentation rather than understatement: the waist-length, brilliant silver hair made certain of that. He was naked, which had been necessary for some early stasis tanks, and his skin was fair, and perfectly unmarked: no sign of scars or birthmarks to interrupt the smooth planes of his body. But despite their beauty, the man's cold, sharp features sent a shiver down Julian's spine, and the empty look on his face was not peaceful. It made Julian shudder to imagine what would happen when he opened his eyes and woke up.

Shaking himself, he held out the medical tricorder, and began taking readings.

"He's definitely human, seems healthy. I don't think he was frozen, but he seems to have been in some sort of stasis, which we've interrupted. I haven't a clue what the liquid around him is though."

Jadzia came up beside the tank and added "I can't tell either. I'd like a sample of it to analyze, once you've dealt with him."

Julian nodded, and gestured to Nurse Cardez. Together, they checked the man for any obvious reason he could not be removed from the tank, and, finding nothing (no breathing tube, IV, anything - he must have been in deep stasis), agreed to transport him to medbay. It would be easier to move him with the transporter than to put him on a stretcher and carry him across Deep Space Nine, Julian had found, and he didn't want to risk anything happening en route. Just as Jadzia was preparing to have the machine taken to the labs, the cargo bay winked out of existence around him and his new, and the medbay appeared, ready for Julian to get to work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be out in a few days! Tell me what you think? :)


	2. The Stranger

The silver-haired man slept quietly in a biobed in the medbay. The orange and purple jumpsuit provided to patients looked strange on him - it was slightly too short, leaving his wrists and ankles bare. Julian frowned down at him. It was near the end of the day, and really, there was nothing pressing enough to justify Deep Space Nine's Chief Medical Officer staying late right now. It had been an unusually healthy week, and Julian had no research or other projects on his time right now - except for this one, which wasn't doing anything more than breathing steadily under the blanket.

Julian had run as many tests as he felt were justified under these circumstances without patient consent, and the results were only more confusing. Their strange guest was most definitely human, in his twenties probably, but was also clearly enhanced far beyond anything Julian had ever heard of. His bones were unusually dense, his muscles showed no signs of atrophy, despite what must have been years of disuse, his cells were almost completely resistant to any toxic substances or harsh conditions Julian had thrown at them, and his metabolism was simply amazing. Julian was grateful he didn't need to drug this man, as he wasn't sure how he could possibly do it without running the risk of a serious overdose. 

But considering that, it was worrying that he hadn't woken up yet. After his removal from the tank, he hadn't breathed for nearly 15 minutes, and his pulse was terrifyingly slow and thready. Julian had intubated him in an effort to provide oxygen, which had worked, until the man clenched his jaw and bit through the tube. After the difficult and painful process of extracting the shredded tube from his trachea, Julian had kept clear of his patient's mouth unless absolutely necessary. 

Luckily for both of them - and the remaining endotracheal tubes - the man's breathing was steady, and gradually approached something more like a deep sleep than the deathly slow rhythm of before. His other vital signs followed, and he had even shifted faintly when he was moved or his bedding changed - all good signs. Julian was tentatively hopeful that he would wake up soon, and they would be able to find out more about him and why he was on Empok Nor.

Even so, Julian was uneasy. The man's uncanny beauty and easy strength, even in a coma, reminded him uncomfortably of what he had learned about the Eugenics Wars and the Augments, the followers of Khan Noonien Singh. If he was the same as them, if he shared their lack of empathy and entitled arrogance, then this situation would not turn out well. The stranger would have to be imprisoned, possibly even put down if he could not be contained, and after that, what would happen to Julian? As the only other enhanced individual on the station, if public opinion turned against them, he would have nowhere to go. He trusted the captain, trusted that he would keep his word and protect his officers, but even so, Julian didn't relish the thought of how badly this situation could turn out.

"Stop it, you're getting worked up over what hasn't happened - and probably won't," Julian murmured to himself. "It's going to be fine. He's probably the result of some defunct Cardassian military project, nothing to do with you or your enhancements. He might not even wake up." Somehow, that wasn't entirely reassuring, but at least it reminded him to finish up and go home.

He nodded firmly to himself, and set about putting everything in order for tomorrow. After checking on his patient one last time, he turned to leave - the observation room door would lock automatically behind him, as a precaution. 

But before he could go, he heard a tiny noise behind him. Turning around, he caught a glimpse of brilliant green eyes staring at him from under silver bangs. 

For a moment Julian was frozen, struggling to hold the stranger's gaze. Under the purple jumpsuit, the man's shoulders were tight and his face was settling into hard lines. Fingers clenched the soft blanket as his breaths came quicker and his gaze left Julian to dart around the room before the green eyes slipped closed and a soft sigh escaped his lips as he slumped back onto the pillows. Julian rushed to the side of the bed, and found that his brainwaves had settled into normal REM sleep, a change from the much deeper unconsciousness of before.

Julian set the system to notify him immediately if the stranger showed further signs of waking, but reluctantly left the room. If the stranger did wake up properly soon, he wanted to have some sleep behind him. 

~=~

Jadzia frowned down at the glowing, green test tube. The substance had just baffled yet another purification and identification procedure, leaving her with no more information than what she had gleaned from surface properties: that the fluid in the stasis tank found on Empok Nor was a somewhat dilute solution with water and some trace salts, the pure (as she could get it) substance was definitely the source of the green glow, and it liked to crystallize inside her flasks. In fact, it crystallized so easily, she wondered how the stuff in the tank had stayed liquid. It hadn't been easy to get any idea what it was, beyond "complex, probably organic, probably a mixture of lots of other things."

As she set the tube back down, her elbow banged against the spectrometer, and the tube slipped out of her fingers. Her left hand shot out to snatch at the sample, but just missed, spilling the thick fluid all over her fingers and palm. The crash of shattering glass resounded in the quiet lab. 

Swearing under her breath, she reached for supplies to get the mess off the floor - if she let the green stuff crystallize, the glass shards might as well be cemented down, so it had to be dealt with fast. 

By the time she had cleaned up the spill, the layer of it on her hand had gone from heavy, sticky slime to a thin coating, mostly dried already. Jadzia rubbed the crystals off her hand irritably, and moved on to her other projects. 

She didn't notice the fine, sparkling, green dust left on her skin, or the fact that a lot less crystal had been visible on her hand than one would expect from so much liquid.

~=~

"What have you found about our guest so far, Doctor? Engineering has just sent me a very strange report about the machine he was found in, and I would like to have as much information as possible."

"Well Captain he's mostly human - possibly some of his ancestors were non-human, but not from any known species. His metabolism can break down just about anything that comes his way, and his cells are extraordinarily durable. Beyond that though, all I can tell you is that with physical abilities like his, he either has non-human ancestry somewhere or…" Julian trailed off.

"Or what, Doctor?"

"He could be enhanced," he finished. "Far more than me, possibly as much as those in the Eugenics Wars." The medical officer was carefully not looking at Sisko, not wanting to see the look on his face when he was reminded of the lie Julian had lived his entire life, as well as the necessity of it.

"I see. What makes you draw that conclusion?" Sisko responded in a very level voice.

"Well, his appearance for one, though not just that. He's very strong - he bit clear through an endotracheal tube at one point-"

Sisko cut in "I thought you said he was still unconscious?"

"Oh, he is! Which makes the strength even more impressive. His bone density and muscle strength together with everything else - I don't know what he is, but it doesn't suggest normal."

The captain nodded and absently picked up the baseball from his desk, tossing it up and down. "I see. Well, you may return to work. Tell me if anything new becomes clear, or if he wakes - Doctor, are you listening to me?"

Julian was staring at his tricorder, eyes wide. "Captain, if you'll come with me, you can see the new developments for yourself."

~=~

The atmosphere of the medbay was as tense as Julian had ever seen it when he and the captain arrived. No obvious signs of destruction, but people were certainly not working normally, and he couldn't help but notice that the door of the stranger's observation room remained sealed, and everyone seemed to be giving it a wide berth. 

"Doctor Bashir. Sensors indicated he woke up a couple of minutes ago before many of them went offline. We thought it would be best to let you make first contact with the patient."

They thought it would be best. Translation: he ripped off all the sensors he could reach and we've all seen him and his readings - someone else can explain what's going on to the disoriented and possibly violent superhuman.

"Thank you Cardez. I'll take care of things."

Julian turned to the locked door and glanced at Sisko beside him. The captain was wearing a strange smile and Julian couldn't help but envy him his ability to walk calmly into any situation no matter the danger. Sisko noticed his look and gave him a small nod. Julian took a deep breath and palmed open the door.

The room inside was as neat as it had been that morning, save for the biobed and its occupant. 

The blanket was thrown onto the floor in a heap and the stranger was on his feet facing the door, silver hair in a disarrayed tangle around his head and fists clenched at his sides. No monitor was on his forehead - Julian could see it on the floor beside the blanket, and the man's clenched jaw and heavy breaths didn't seem friendly.

Sisko stepped forward, and all eyes in the room instantly snapped to him. 

"You are in a medbay aboard the Federation station Deep Space Nine. I am Captain Benjamin Sisko, the Starfleet officer in command of Deep Space Nine. We found you three days ago, in what looked like a stasis chamber and brought you here." 

As he spoke, a slight crease appeared on the stranger's forehead. 

"Can you tell us who you are?"

The stranger opened his mouth to respond, but his words were gibberish. No, not gibberish - just a language that the Universal Translator didn't know. Julian had to take a moment to boggle at that impossibility.

Apparently seeing that they had not understood, the man tried again. And again. And again, each time different from the last, but no more comprehensible. Julian was beginning to find his nerves overtaken by excitement, at someone who knew at least four languages that Starfleet had never encountered before, and decided to try something else.

He stepped forward, raised his hands in front of him, and carefully signed  _ "Who are you?" _ Sign Language was something he'd learned some of in the Academy, though he'd never gotten much opportunity to use it. 

The stranger watched his hands intently, then shook his head faintly. Well, that was it for that idea. 

There was a moment of awkward silence, and then the man muttered something incomprehensible to himself and put a hand up to his face.

Julian frowned at him. Now that the tension had dissipated a little, his concern for his patient was making itself known - his skin had an unpleasant grayish cast, there were deep shadows under his eyes, and the hand over his face was trembling slightly.

"Sit down. You've been in a coma for three days and in stasis for who knows how long before that," Julian said, holding out his hands. 

"I'm not sure how effective that will be, Doctor," Sisko said dryly.

The man looked up and visibly recoiled from Julian's approach. He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin defiantly, but his eyes looked trapped, not aggressive. That gave Julian courage.

"Sit down. We're not going to hurt you, just sit down for now," he said in his most soothing voice, pointing from the stranger to the bed. 

Behind him Sisko glared. "I suggest you cooperate. Until we know more about you, we must assume you are hostile, and you don't want to be marked as obstructive."

While he couldn't understand him, the tone must have been clear enough, for the stranger backed towards the bed, and slowly sat down.

Julian approached carefully, pausing to fetch the forehead monitor from where it had fallen on the floor. His patient stiffened at the sight of it.

The doctor spent a moment going over the man with his medical tricorder - from a distance, he wasn't stupid - and checking the readings from his remaining monitors, chest, abdomen, and wrists. Nothing too alarming, though not stunningly healthy either.

"Captain, if we can get him to eat, we should. He needs it."

"Well, it might help convince him that we mean him no harm, so long as he can say the same." Sisko nodded. "I'll go now, and ask them to send in some food. Try to get him to talk as much as possible - it will help the Universal Translator learn his language."

He took one last look at the room, with their strange guest seated on the bed, and the doctor leaning over him, before deciding the situation was stable enough to leave, and making his exit.

~=~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession time: while writing this, I realized I knew nothing more about the Eugenics Wars than "KHAAAAAN!!!!" so I checked the wiki. Did you know that there wasn't really a cohesive group of Augments, more like they were all the evil dictators of various countries for a couple years in the 90s? Also, Khan was apparently one of the nice ones.
> 
> If you liked, leave kudos, and if you really liked, leave a comment! :)


	3. Realizations

Jadzia stared at the screen without really seeing it. The bizarre green stuff had not become more susceptible to identification since that morning, and she was losing hope. Absently she put up her hands to rub her eyes, and stopped, frozen in surprise.

Her hand! Her left hand… It was _burned,_ for lack of a better word. The skin was dry and discolored, shrunken around her nails, and she could hardly move her fingers. Cautiously, she reached to poke it with her right hand then thought better of touching it with her bare skin, and used a small metal tool instead. 

She could hardly feel it. As she stared in fascinated horror she caught a glimpse of sparkling green, caked into the folds of her skin. Right. The spill from that morning.

She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but the conclusion fit perfectly. Whatever this substance was, it was toxic, and when she didn't get it off of herself fast enough it must have been absorbed or something. The Trill swallowed against her suddenly dry throat. Hopefully the damage wasn't permanent: Julian could -

Julian! And the strange man they had found - he had been floating in the stuff. Hopefully no one in Medbay had gotten it on themselves, but that still left the man. He must have some sort of immunity: it was probably beneficial to him, rather than damaging, since he had been in stasis surrounded by the stuff.

Jadzia took a deep breath and got up. She had to talk to Julian, both for her hand and about his patient, right now. Before she left, she glanced again at their other samples of the substance, and put up a warning for her team: no further tests or experiments on the samples, immediately cancel all current procedures, and  _ do not let it touch you. _

One more thing - she could still see the green sparkles on her hand, and she didn't relish the thought of carrying them out of the lab and into the population of DS9. Without a better idea, she slipped on a glove of the sort they often wore for bench work, one size too big for her, and then wrapped her hand in a layer of heavy plastic overtop of it. Hopefully the precaution would be enough.

By the time she got to the Medbay, it was already in some sort of crisis. Not obviously - people were working, no one was panicking, but they weren't relaxed. She was barely in the doors when Sisko turned to her from where he was speaking with a nurse.

"Hello Old Man. Please tell me you have good news." 

"Sorry to disappoint. I've learned something about the stuff our guest was suspended in." Her voice was grim. "It's highly damaging to living tissue, which I found out when I was careless this morning."

She held up her wrapped hand, and someone came forward to look at it. "Careful. I think some of that stuff may still be there - I don't want to get it on anyone else."

The woman nodded, and led her to an examination table, with Sisko following behind. 

"How damaging? In what ways?"

"It looked like it caused burns, similar to some acids, but I'm no expert. I spilled it on myself this morning, and I guess I didn't get it all off fast enough." This last was directed to the woman, who had donned gloves and a mask and was examining the hand under the plastic wrap.

"Does it hurt?" she asked. 

"No. I can barely feel it. I didn't even notice until I looked a few minutes ago."

"Make a fist." She observed thoughtfully as Jadzia followed her direction, then gave her several other tasks. Her fingers couldn't curl up properly and were too weak to resist when the woman gently pressed them straight. "Can you feel this?" 

"Only very faintly." 

Sisko interrupted "Is there anyone else who could have been affected in your team?"

"I don't think so - I was working the most closely with it, and we were usually following the standard safety procedures."

"Alright. Tell me right away when you have some idea of how it caused this, or any other information. And get Doctor Bashir to have a look once he's available."

Jadzia nodded in agreement, then frowned. "Where is Julian? I'd have thought he'd be here by now."

The captain's answer was almost matter-of-fact. "He's with our guest. He woke up around half an hour ago."

~=~

Once he was alone with the strange man, Julian was forced to confront the fact that he had no clue where to begin. Well, when all else failed, be polite?

"My name is Julian Bashir." He pointed at himself "Doctor Julian Bashir." 

The stranger looked at him helplessly and tried to repeat the phrase, mangling the words.

Julian winced, and rethought his strategy. "Bashir," he tried pointing to himself again.

"Bashir," the man repeated.

Well that worked. Julian gave him a smile, and then tried a different task. He crossed his arms and squared his shoulders, doing his best to look serious and commanding. "Sisko," he declared in a bad imitation of the captain's voice. 

No sign of comprehension from his patient, but when Julian pointed to the door and repeated the impression, he got it. 

"Sisko." His deep voice was measured and even, though a bit hoarse.

They had done their best to keep him hydrated while he was unconscious, but Julian still winced at how dry his throat must be. At least all the observation rooms had sinks in them, as well as cups, so Julian fetched him some water without really thinking about it.

But when he held it out for him to take, all he got in return was a mistrustful look. He repeated the motion, gesturing from the water to the man and raising his eyebrows. Finally, the man took it, not letting his fingers so much as brush Julian's, and raised it to his lips. He took what must have been just one sip and made to set it down, then hesitated, and gulped down the whole thing.

Julian wondered why - was he worried the water was contaminated? At least he had drunk _something_. No matter what he was worried about, it wasn't like the water would harm him: Julian didn't totally understand his biology, but he was certain plain water would be fine. 

The man was giving him an intent look, and when Julian met his eyes, he pointed at himself. "Sephiroth."

Julian found himself grinning at the progress. "Sephiroth," he tried, and got a terse nod as reward. Sephiroth broke eye contact with him to look longingly at the empty glass sitting on the bedside table, but he didn’t make any move towards it. 

The door chimed and they both turned to look. "That must be your lunch," said Julian, as he went to open it.

Nurse Cardez was there, carrying a tray burdened with a wide variety of foods generally amenable to humans. Julian thanked her, and moved to take it himself, but she was too busy inspecting their patient.

Looking back, he found the man's intent green gaze focused sharply on her, his shoulders tense. Well, maybe they could teach him some new words.

"Come on in. This is Sephiroth," Julian informed her as Cardez set the tray down near his water glass. 

"Good to see you're awake, Sephiroth," she said politely, which garnered another response in Sephiroth's language.

"We aren't quite sure what language he speaks, and neither is the universal translator," he answered her unspoken question and wide-eyed look. "I'm hoping to teach him a few words now though."

Turning to their patient, he pointed at the nurse. "Cardez."

Sephiroth mimicked him, "Cardez," before adding "Bashir," to him.

"Good! That's right, now how about some other things?" Julian pointed at the water glass. "Water," and then at the tray of food, "Food."

Sephiroth repeated each word, and inhaled deeply as he leaned towards the tray. 

"Right, you must be hungry. Try this." Julian indicated a simple sandwich: unlikely to cause too many problems.

Sephiroth looked at first him and then Cardez, before saying quite clearly "Water."

Julian shook his head and corrected "Food. This is food," before realizing what he meant. "Oh - you're thirsty. Go ahead then." He refilled the glass and passed it to Sephiroth, who grabbed it and gulped the whole thing down. 

"You really were thirsty, huh. Here, I'll get you some more." He went to refill the glass and Cardez stepped up to him.

"Lieutenant Commander Dax is outside. She was injured in the lab, and needs to speak to you."

"Really? I guess I have to go to her then." He glanced back at Sephiroth. "Can you get him to eat? He must be hungry, and it would be good to know what he likes."

"I certainly can. I'll even see if I can teach him a few more words while we're at it."

"Thank you so much. Oh, and try to get him to talk in his own language - once the computer has heard enough of it, it can start to translate him."

"Noted. Now go on and do your job."

"I'm going, I'm going," he turned to the door, and as he was leaving, Cardez said "Goodbye, Bashir."

"Goodbye Cardez! Goodbye Sephiroth."

They looked expectantly at the man on the bed. "Goodbye Bashir," he said carefully. Julian smiled at him before he left.

~=~

Jadzia watched Julian’s shoulders slump as he examined their results. Though they hadn’t been able to test much yet, what they had so far was not reassuring.

He lifted his head. “It looks like this substance is absorbed into living cells extremely quickly - it goes right through the membrane. I’m not sure about skin, but judging by your hand, it doesn’t pose much of an obstacle. The good news is that it looks like given a couple days, it should have been excreted as waste without causing too much difficulty.”

“And the bad news?” she asked, unconsciously looking down at her hand.

“There’s an excellent chance that the cells will die in that time.”

Her gaze jerked up to give him a horrified look, and he quickly backpedalled, “You have a good chance of being fine! We ran tests on isolated cells in high concentrations of this stuff - the cells in your body will be much more stable and they’ve been exposed to much less of it. Your skin might have severe and permanent damage, but the underlying structures could well recover!”

Jadzia didn’t find that particularly reassuring, but she also knew it would be bearable. So she might need dermal reconstruction? That would probably take Julian half an hour at most - it was more the idea that scared her, really. To steady her nerves, she brought up their only other data point.

“Any sign of how our guest escaped damage? You said his cells seemed basically human.”

“I know, and that’s the thing. But they also showed a stunning ability to metabolize toxins and survive harsh conditions. I suspect it might apply to our green gloop as well.”

“It would have to. Any chance of getting in to see your patient, or do you want to keep him all to yourself?” she teased.

“His name is Sephiroth, he only woke up today, and besides, before this we hadn’t realized quite how unusual he was.” Julian frowned. “Actually, that’s not quite true. There were a few signs.”

“Like what? Why didn’t you mention them before now?”

“They were the sorts of things you’d normally see in people who were,” he lowered his voice, even though the Medbay was closing down for the day and no one was nearby, “genetically enhanced.”

“Like you are, you mean.”

“More. A lot more. Maybe more like the Augments in the Eugenics Wars. Maybe more so.” He forced a smile. “Or maybe just like a Cardassian military project that was abandoned at the end of the Occupation. We still haven’t eliminated that option.”

“Either way, we need to know.” Seeing his discomfort, she set her good hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. This isn’t you, and we all know you. No matter what the man in there turns out to be, no one will judge you for it.”

“Thanks.” He took a deep breath. “Well, since we’ve gotten just about all the data we can without him, and I need to prove I'm not only keeping him for myself, want to go talk to Sephiroth?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few suspicions are developing! Soon they'll start getting answers, but not yet. ;)
> 
> Next chapter: Sephiroth's pov!
> 
> What did you think? Leave kudos or comment and tell me!


	4. From the other side

Sephiroth lay in bed staring blankly at the ceiling. The woman with the strange ridges over her nose - Cardez - had left a little while ago, after encouraging him to rest.

At least, he thought that was what she had meant. Either that, or the bed was expected to start making snoring noises at some point and he shouldn't be alarmed.

This was the first time he had been left alone since he woke up, and despite himself he was grateful for it. There was a splitting headache throbbing behind his temples, his throat was still sore and dry - he had tried to work the tap Bashir had given him water from, but had been unable to, and ever since he had eaten he could feel his stomach roiling unpleasantly. He hoped it was just that it had been a long time since his last meal before this, not that the food was poisoned somehow.

Sephiroth winced at the thought. If it were poisoned, or if these people had any other intention of harming him, there would be precious little he could do. He didn't speak their language, and, judging by the looks on their faces, they had never heard any of the languages he knew either, which would be a huge obstacle supposing he did manage to escape. After Cardez left, he had tried the door and found it locked, with no visible mechanisms to pick or break - not even hinges, as the door slid sideways into the wall. He also had no equipment, not even his own clothes, and nowhere to get any.

And, though he hated to think about it, in his current state of weakness, he wasn't sure he would be able to effectively defend himself if the situation did come down to it. He had been trembling with exhaustion after just a few minutes on his feet earlier, and only the sight of food had kept him conscious after that.

Sephiroth stared resolutely at the ceiling, keeping his thoughts focused on the current situation, avoiding the past. When he thought too hard about how he had come to be here, his mind whited out, and all he could feel was the bitter loss, like a missing limb, that had overcome any memory of his recent history.

Before that, his memory was undamaged. He could perfectly recall his childhood and adolescence, the Wutai War, Genesis and Angeal, Zack Fair… 

Everything was in place. Right up until Nibelheim. 

His recollections of it were blurred, but he remembered enough. Enough to know what he had done. Enough to remember the look on Zack's face as Masamune skewered him. Enough to hear the deafening silence in his head left by the loss of... 

Of... 

Of Her. 

Her gentle voice had guided him in Nibelheim... offering an escape from the sickening origins laid out by the laboratory notebooks and journals before him. 

He dragged his eyes open wider, trying to only see the ceiling, not any of the other images imprinted on his mind. If he stared hard at the unfamiliar material of the gray panels, took in enough of the odd architecture, closely examined his own strangely designed bed, he wouldn't have to think about how easily he had succumbed to that kind voice. Or about how mangled and unstable he felt now that she was gone.

The door opening startled Sephiroth out of his reverie, and he sat up to face his visitors. Bashir was back, with someone new beside him.

She wore almost identical clothes to Bashir and Sisko - it must be some sort of uniform - and he noted similar pins on her collar that might mean rank. Running down the sides of her face and neck were small, dark spots, similar to those on big cats. He wondered if they were a tattoo or if it was something else. The ridges above Cardez's nose returned to mind.

_"Hello Sephiroth,"_ Bashir said, giving him a smile, and added something else to his companion. 

_ "Hello Bashir," _ he tried, delicately shaping the new word, and got a pleased nod. Bashir told the woman something, and she turned to him.

_ "Hello Sephiroth," _ she greeted, before pointing at herself.  _ "Dax." _

_ "Hello Dax." _

She grinned and said something to Bashir. From her undertone, and his overly loud and quick response, it had been teasing of some sort. They were friends then? Bashir and Sisko hadn't acted that way, rather, they had seemed more professional, like coworkers, perhaps even subordinate and superior.

Bashir waved away his embarrassment and came forward, moving an instrument over him. Sephiroth stiffened, thoughts of Shinra and the Science Department going through his head, and found himself suddenly very conscious of his weakened state. Behind Bashir, Dax picked up the devices he had removed from his body and left on the bedside table, and he immediately regretted not destroying them while he had the chance. Of course, he hadn't been able to understand anything of their function, so perhaps it wouldn't have done any good.

She said something else and held them out to Bashir, who responded with a shrug and a further statement. Not being able to understand them was quickly becoming extremely frustrating: he hoped they would unearth someone who could speak a language he knew soon. 

Bashir slid the devices into some sort of pocket in his uniform, and asked him a question. Sephiroth gave him a blank look and raised his eyebrows. Bashir repeated, slower, and Sephiroth picked out _food,_ and then two more words highlighted with an exaggerated grin and an equally extreme frown. Well, they hadn't hurt him yet; he ought to cooperate to maintain that situation. 

And at least this question he could answer. 

_ "Good food," _ he tried, repeating the word that went with the smile, and got a pleased nod. Now for an experiment. He slowly got out of bed, watching them for a reaction.

Nothing in particular. He walked to the tap, which was as frustratingly unworkable as ever. 

_ "Water?" _ he asked, hoping to be shown how to use it. His dry throat scratched uncomfortably on the word. Bashir just gave him another sentence of useless approval. He tried again, gesturing at the tap. Bashir was the same as before, but Dax seemed to realize what he meant.

She stepped forward cautiously, and he moved out of the way. She grabbed the glass from the little table and set it down under the end of the tap, and placed her hand on the back of it. He leaned in closer, not wanting to miss the trick.

The sink was a metal basin with a raised lip, smooth and shining, with a single black and silver tap passing over it in a shallow arch. There were no handles or other controls that he could see. Dax simply positioned her hand so that the fingers pressed into the black plastic segments of the metal tap, and instantly water gushed out. 

"So that's how it works!" he exclaimed. "Thank you, Dax." She held out the glass of water and he took it gratefully. 

While he drank, they exchanged a few short sentences, before she turned to him again.

"Sephiroth," she called to get his attention, and then held out what looked like a very slim and light computer screen. On it was a picture of a tube full of a familiar thick green liquid.

~=~

Benjamin Sisko, Captain of Deep Space Nine, Emissary of the Prophets, Commander of the USS Defiant, was not having a good day. Reports clogged his inboxes: updates on the situation with Bajor, Cardassia, and the Dominion; none of them good. The Dominion's ships continued to fly through the Wormhole at regular intervals, bringing reinforcements and warships to Cardassia. When confronted on the subject, Gul Dukat merely declared himself a loyal Dominion subject doing as he was told - as if.  Sisko had known Dukat too long to believe the Cardassian had any goal in mind other than retaking Bajor and Deep Space Nine. 

Cardassia joining the Dominion was a means to an end, nothing more. 

But there wasn't much Sisko could do. As the Dominion would have it, they had no way to send supplies to their new province other than through the Wormhole, meaning that trying to block it would be a serious act: the kind that could lead to war.

And Sisko did not want a war, nor did he have the authority to start one. But the longer those ships were allowed to pass unchallenged, the worse it would be when - if, it was still if - it came.

At least the reports that had little to do with politics were less grim, though they were also stranger. Engineering's analysis of the machine found on Empok Nor showed it to be similar to the earliest cryochambers and stasis tanks developed on Earth, designed to sustain one humanoid in stasis near indefinitely, though much of the mechanism of how it did so was related to the liquid inside, which Dax was still working on.

But its design was not the same as any Terran work, or any non-Terran one. It was almost like something from a parallel universe, similar enough to Earth to almost pass, but with more differences the closer one looked. Chief O'Brien had practically waxed poetic on the subject - apparently mysteries like this didn't show up in Engineering very often.

They had discovered one promising thing though: a small device attached to the end of the tank, not hooked up to its control systems, but a separate computer.

It might be some sort of log, tracking what happened to the tank, or even a manual, explaining what it was. Either way, Engineering had gotten it turned on and done a bit of investigation. Unfortunately, it was all in some utterly unknown language, presumably the same one their guest spoke. 

Perhaps once the Universal Translator was functioning for him, it could be used to understand the device on the tank. Until then, there was little they could learn from it.

Sisko blew out a heavy breath through his nose - it had been a long day, and he wanted to get home, but he had work to finish first. Engineering had sent him one more portion of their investigations into the device, a video it had played immediately upon activation. But the man on the screen's words were as unintelligible as their silver-haired guest in Medbay's had been, and the captain was forced to pause the playback shortly after it started. He had plenty more to do before leaving, and so he turned away from the screen, focusing on the latest group of ships coming through the Wormhole.

On the ignored screen, frozen mid-word, was a young man with spiky blond hair and glowing blue eyes, frown lines pulled into his brow and shoulders tense. His voice had been low and urgent, and his whole bearing showed discomfort. He stood in some sort of laboratory and behind him was the tank they had found on Empok Nor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thank you all so much for the encouragement! It brightens up my whole day when I see your comments and kudos, thank you, thank you, thank you!
> 
> I'm realizing now (yeah, I should have thought of it earlier) that a lot of people reading this might be unfamiliar with either DS9 or FF7, so I'll try to make it so you can still follow along. That said, if you ever want a recap of something, go ahead and ask me, I'm always happy to try to give you an explanation!
> 
> Next chapter: We see how Jadzia, Julian, and Sephiroth's meeting ended, and maybe see what was up with the stasis chamber's device with the video of Cloud!


	5. The Message

"Sephiroth," Dax called to get his attention, and then held out what looked like a very slim and light computer screen. On it was a picture of a tube full of a familiar thick green liquid.

"Why are you asking me about mako?" he wondered. It was nice sometimes that he could talk without anyone understanding him. "Hojo may have pumped it into me and the rest of SOLDIER, but that doesn't mean I really understand the stuff." A twinge behind his temples suggested that he had had much closer contact with mako than Hojo had ever managed to give him, but he ignored it.

Dax was looking confused. "Mako." He gestured at the screen. "This substance. You clearly have some."

"Mako," she said, pronouncing it carefully, and pointed to the green liquid on the screen. He nodded, and looked suspiciously at them. Something about this situation was off.

Next Dax flipped to a picture of someone's left hand, marked by serious burns. "Mako?" she asked him.

"Mako," he replied. "That sort of injury is quite common for concentrated solutions of it on bare skin. That's the reason why so many recruits drop out of SOLDIER training - too low a tolerance and the enhancements cause more problems than they solve. Well, _a_ reason why."

Dax and Bashir were talking again while he tried to guess what was going on. Too many things didn't fit.

Dax caught his attention again, and held up her left hand. It was wrapped in bandages, and he glanced back at the picture and made the connection.

"Mako, Dax," she said, pointing at her hand, first in the picture then in reality. He nodded. "Mako, Sephiroth?" She pointed at him. He tilted his head, confused. Was she asking if he had any mako burns?

She tapped the screen again, and it showed a new picture. His eyes widened as he saw himself, floating naked in an unfamiliar mako tank. No, not totally unfamiliar. He had seen it off to the side in Hojo's lab, apparently a work in progress. He looked up at her, not knowing what to say. 

She repeated the statement about her own burned hand, and then gestured to him. He shook his head slowly, mind whirling with questions. How did he get into a mako chamber? If these people had never even heard of mako, how did they know to open up the tank? And where was he, with technology so far advanced he couldn't even figure out how to use a tap, and people who spoke no languages he knew and had never heard of mako?

None of the half remembered flashes between Nibelheim and the Northern Crater could explain how he ended up in that tank. Sephiroth had a strange feeling that he had not been killed at the Northern Crater any more than he had at Nibelheim, and if that was the case, why had he come back like this, rather than as his Mother's-

_ …Mother's… _

_ Her… _

The screaming emptiness in his mind became deafening, whiting out the world around him and replacing it with disjointed and fuzzy memories, of seeing through eyes not his own and casting spells no human should cast.

He could feel it overwhelming him, too exhausted to hold it back any longer.

Sephiroth was distantly aware of someone talking to him, warm and soothing. He recoiled from the sound, too like the voice in Nibelheim, with its cruel kindness, and jerked away, slamming the back of his head against the wall. The impact shot a wave of vertigo through him, and his vision darkened.

There were hands on his shoulders, guiding him to sit down, trying to press his head between his knees. He did his best to struggle, to fight back, but it was a losing battle. The hands left after a few of his inelegant attempts to remove them, and he was left to curl up against the wall and try to remember who he was outside the searing absence burning through his brain.

Sephiroth didn't know how long it took, but when he had lifted his head, Bashir and Dax were still there, sitting on the floor in front of him.

Blocking his escape path from the room, he couldn't help but notice, not that getting to the door unhindered would do him any good.

"Sephiroth?" Bashir asked softly.

He gave a jerky nod to show that he was able to hear. Hojo had always insisted he signal when he was conscious, even if he was incapable of doing more than that.

Bashir and Dax slowly moved away and stood up. Bashir held out a hand to him, which he ignored, pushing himself up the wall instead, trying to hide how badly he needed the support.

Bashir pulled back his hand and gestured towards the bed, watching intently as Sephiroth dragged himself to it. He didn't really have the energy to pull up the blanket, but they didn't look like they would leave until it was done, so he forced himself to.

Dax set a full glass of water on the table beside him, and then they both turned to go. 

As they were leaving, one of them said something that made the lights in the room dim so they were just barely enough for a normal human to see. Sephiroth was already too far gone to wonder at the technology.

~=~

“Sisko to Dr. Bashir.”

Julian tapped his combadge. “Right here, Captain.”

“How is our guest today?”

“I wouldn’t quite discharge him yet, but he’s doing much better. If he keeps improving at this rate, he’ll be in top shape in a couple days.” He might well be beyond that: Julian thought it was entirely possible he would recover to a 'baseline' far beyond human norms. He remembered the shredded endotracheal tube and other extraordinary results, and mentally revised ‘possible’ to ‘most likely.’

“I’m pleased to hear you say so. Is there any further information on where he comes from or who he is?”

“His name is Sephiroth, and the substance in the tank is called mako. But any more than that will probably require the Universal Translator to learn his language.”

“You’re in luck then: Engineering has just informed me that they have a preliminary translator working. It’s not perfect, but the program should learn quickly, and it will be much better than nothing.”

“That’s wonderful news! I’ll get in to talk to him right away.”

“One more thing before you do, Doctor. We found a short video attached to the tank he was found in. The translation might be imperfect, so I’ll reserve judgment until it can be improved, but I would like to know what… Sephiroth thinks of it.” Sisko’s hesitation over the new name was hardly noticeable but it was there. Julian wondered again where his patient was from - Jadzia hadn’t found the name in any records, though there was an old Earth Hebrew word that was very similar.

“I’ll show it to him and see how he reacts. Maybe he can translate whatever we can’t.”

“...It would certainly be interesting to know what he claims it means. Tell me what you find.”

The connection cut off, and Julian saw a notification for the video as the captain sent it to him. Well, no time like the present. He got up and took a padd into Sephiroth’s room. 

“Hello Sephiroth,” he called cheerfully as he entered. Sephiroth straightened out of the deep stretch he had been bent into and Julian had a moment to be impressed by the man’s flexibility.

“Hello Bashir.”

“The captain said they managed to get the translator mostly working now. Can you understand me?”

Sephiroth stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I can understand you. I wasn’t expecting a translation to be available so soon.”

“Well,” Julian drew out the word, “Engineering _can_ be useful sometimes, I suppose. How are you feeling?”

Sephiroth straightened his shoulders. “Much better. There won’t be a repeat of earlier.”

“That’s good to hear - you had us worried there.” Julian took a closer look at his patient, the almost military posture and utter lack of movement. “Why don’t we sit down? This might end up taking a while, and I don't want to keep you on your feet.”

Sephiroth looked like he wanted to object, but he followed Julian’s lead to the chairs and plain table near the wall, a set of empty dishes that had probably contained Sephiroth’s breakfast placed neatly on the far end. Julian sat down opposite him, facing the wall, and tried to decide what to ask first. Best to start with the basics, right?

“Where are you from, Sephiroth?”

“Midgar.”

Julian frowned. “Is that a planet?”

Sephiroth looked baffled. “It’s a city. How can you not have heard of Midgar?”

Oh dear. “Could you tell me the name of the planet Midgar is on?”

“Gaia. …Is that what’s going on? Am I on another planet?”

“...Not strictly speaking. Here, let me start from the beginning.You are on Deep Space Nine, a Federation station near the planet Bajor. I am Doctor Julian Bashir, the Chief Medical Officer of DS9. We found you several days ago in some sort of stasis chamber, on Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian station near here.”

Sephiroth was completely still, his face unreadable.

When it didn’t seem like he was going to say anything else, Julian went on. “Do you know how you came to be on Empok Nor? What happened to you, on Gaia?”

On the table, Sephiroth’s left hand clenched, and he covered it with his right. “My last memories of Gaia are… blurred. By all rights, I should be dead.”

Well, that was unexpected. Maybe he should just bring up the video from the stasis tank.

“We found a video attached to the machine you were in. I can show it to you now.”

Sephiroth nodded sharply. Julian held the padd so that they could both see it and hit play.

On the screen was a human with blond hair swept up into improbable spikes and blue eyes that had the same glow as Sephiroth’s, even on the small screen. He seemed to be in some sort of old laboratory (20th or 21st century Earth maybe?), and behind him was Sephiroth’s mako tank.

“I don’t know who’s watching this, and I really hope no one ever will, but.” The man grimaced. “Just in case. My name is Cloud Strife, and I'm recording this message because I'm the only person who can. To whom it may concern,” he smiled faintly at the expression, “this mako tank contains Sephiroth. Yes,  _ that _ Sephiroth." His harsh voice left no doubt as to how well-known Sephiroth had been on Gaia. 

"If you haven’t opened it yet, _ don’t.  _ And if you have, and still think you have time to watch this video, stop deluding yourself, and  _ run.  _ Get to the WRO, or whoever replaced them - find me if I’m still around. We’re not sure how long this will last, but the tank should function pretty much forever, or so Reeve tells me, and we’re planning to drop it into the Lifestream. Hopefully the Planet - or Aerith - can deal with him.

“In the event that you’re watching this because you either already opened the tank or it failed and he escaped, and I’m not around and neither is the WRO, I don’t have a lot of advice.” Cloud took a deep breath.

“He's not invulnerable, and don't believe that he is - it will only give him power. He  _ can _ be defeated, and he has been before.

"And if you haven't opened it: don't. If you can think of a way to dispose of it that won't let him get free, do it. Don’t mess around with this, Sephiroth is not like anything else the Planet has ever seen. He is utterly insane, stunningly powerful, and Jenova makes him completely inhuman."

He stood silently for a moment. "He is the most dangerous thing on Gaia. And he will not rest until it is destroyed." He lifted his chin in stubborn defiance. "But we won't let him. He  _ can _ be beaten, and we can do it again. Even if I'm not around anymore, don't give up hope. That will only make him stronger.

"Good luck. You're going to need it."

The video ended, leaving them in silence. The room suddenly felt very small to Julian, staring into Sephiroth's empty, inhuman eyes - the pupils were slits, how had he not noticed that before? Cloud Strife's grim warnings echoed in his ears, and he couldn’t help but see how the man across from him could be exactly what the recording said he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning to finish editing and post this morning, but uh... I guess it is morning now, albeit a day late? Well, I'm satisfied with it, so I'm going to bed.
> 
> I love hearing your thoughts, comment on what you liked (or didn't)! And kudos are love.


	6. Consequences

The screen went blank and Cloud disappeared. Sephiroth kept staring at it, the words echoing in his head. _Insane. Dangerous. Inhuman._ He couldn't even say Cloud was wrong. The man on that screen was not the same as the cadet in Nibelheim: he was battle-hardened and held himself like a warrior, not an awkward teenager. Sephiroth knew that was his fault. The pain in his eyes when he spoke of what Sephiroth could do was real, learned from the loss of friends and homes and his whole world. A sudden pang of guilt hit him - his memories after Nibelheim were fragmented, and it was hard to remember the destruction of anything he would miss, but seeing Zack’s cadet friend forced to grow into a warrior as fearsome as Sephiroth himself drove something home.

Across the table, Bashir shifted and Sephiroth’s gaze snapped to him. The doctor was looking at him with the sort of fear he hadn’t seen since Wutai.

Sephiroth opened his mouth to say something, to respond to the accusations in the video and convince his captors not to follow Cloud’s instructions, but shut it. There was nothing to say: he barely remembered what had happened and what he did recall completely agreed with Cloud. He couldn’t blame them for wanting him dead.

Bashir visibly gathered himself.

“Is what he said true?”

“...Yes. As best as I can remember, it is.”

Bashir nodded jerkily and got up without taking his eyes off Sephiroth for a moment. Sephiroth thought distantly that the caution wouldn't do him much good if he really meant him harm.

The doctor stepped carefully away from the table, but then he paused. “As best as you can remember? What do you mean?”

“My memory of that time is… fractured. Anything after a certain point is difficult to recall, though it is otherwise undamaged.”

Bashir frowned, but his bearing relaxed, just a bit.

“He mentioned something called Jenova. Does that have anything to do with this?”

Sephiroth shuddered at the word, but suppressed the motion, instead forcing himself to answer over the emptiness licking at the edges of his consciousness.

“Jenova is my mother. Or at least the closest thing I have to one.”

The screaming emptiness in his ears was getting louder, but he kept talking.

“The scientists who created me infused me with her cells, and when I came upon her later I- “ He took a deep breath. “I lost my mind, or it joined with hers. I wanted what she wanted, and she wanted… What Cloud said. And so I did too, and with her help, I nearly made it.”

The screaming was rising in intensity, blocking out everything, his head aching with the roaring silence. He was glad he was sitting down already. He could hardly hear his own voice.

“I would have destroyed the world. I was ready to, but Cloud Strife - the man we just saw - stopped me. He and his friends killed me, and after that, I remember nothing at all. Until I woke up here.”

Bashir had come closer to the table again. Sephiroth could barely see him - his vision was clouding over at the edges and the screaming made it increasingly difficult to focus.

“Do you still want what she wants? Is she still there?”

The question rattled in his mind, and Sephiroth had to force himself to form an answer. He suspected it took him far longer than it should have, but Bashir kept waiting.

“I don’t know. I can’t hear her anymore. I might be too far away, or…” He trailed off, unable to finish the thought out loud.

“Or what, Sephiroth?”

“Or she left me. I failed her after all, perhaps she gave me up as useless.”

Bashir said something else, but Sephiroth didn’t hear him. The absence was taking over again, dragging him down, and whatever he said couldn’t have been that important. He stopped resisting, and let himself escape into unconsciousness.

~=~

“Captain, please. There’s more to this than there seems - it's not as simple as the video makes it look.”

“The video is quite clear, and even you agree that Sephiroth himself confirms it. That seems very simple to me.”

“He also said that there was more going on! And he hasn’t done anything wrong here - surely that’s enough to justify some hesitation.”

“Doctor." Sisko had dropped his normal measured and even voice, replacing it with a harsh command. "This station is right at the edge of one of the most militant and powerful empires in known history. At this moment, the Dominion is preparing for an invasion, while working to separate us from Bajor. Kai Winn cannot delay the nonaggression pact with them much longer, and until it is signed, Bajor is in danger with no hope of protection. And once it _is_ signed, Deep Space Nine will be surrounded on all sides. I appreciate your humanitarian impulse, but we cannot have an unknown threat of this scale on the station right now!”

Jadzia nearly flinched. It had been a long time since she had heard Benjamin yell like that, at anyone. She didn’t blame Julian, who had taken a full step back.

“Captain, please.” Apparently he wasn’t giving up his position though. “It doesn’t have to be for a long time, just a week even,” Julian continued. “I know we can find out more, and I'll make sure he doesn't damage our position in politics or diplomacy.”

Jadzia stepped in. “I have to agree with Julian. Handing him over to Starfleet Command at this point is much less likely to give us any chance of finding out where he comes from or how he ended up on Empok Nor. So long as he remains nonviolent and we keep him away from any serious weaponry, I don’t see how keeping him here a little longer can hurt.”

Sisko looked up at her, his eyes hard. “Dax, we are talking about a man who, by his own admission, tried to destroy his home planet, and nearly succeeded. Even if there were other factors at play - some sort of psychic manipulation as Doctor Bashir seems to think - it still strikes me as exceedingly risky to keep him here, near such a volatile situation.”

“I understand,” Jadzia held his gaze. “But our only information about what happened is so vague, while Sephiroth himself hasn't shown any intention to harm anyone - or even tried to leave his room. I think we can risk it a little longer.”

Sisko looked between them and sighed. “Alright. I won’t have him sent to Starfleet Command. For now. So long as he isn’t a threat to the station or anyone on it, he can stay here while we investigate.”

Julian grinned. “Thank you, Captain.”

Jadzia almost made a comment about how Sephiroth had never been a danger to space stations - it was planets they had to worry about - but the look on the captain's face made her think better of it. Instead, she solemnly thanked him and left with Julian.

~=~

Back in Medbay, Jadzia had a question. It had been bothering her for a while, but at this point it needed to be asked.

“Julian.”

He didn’t respond, too busy with the results of the latest test on Sephiroth’s cells. 

“Julian,” she called a little louder.

He only leaned closer to the screen, completely wrapped up in the readings.

_“Julian!”_

He jerked away from the computer, staring at her in shock.

“Finally: I have a question for you.” She sat down on the desk beside him, and he scooted his chair back to look at her. 

“What is it?”

“Why are you so interested in Sephiroth?” Jadzia held up a hand to cut off his immediate response. “Don’t get me wrong, he opens some fascinating questions, and I want to find out what’s going on with him as badly as you. But you don’t just want to unravel the mystery - you’re much more involved than that.”

“I’m a doctor, Jadzia.” He crossed his arms. “I want the best for my patient, that’s all.”

“No it’s not. I’ve seen you trying to take care of patients before, and you're acting nothing like that.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees so they were on almost the same level. “You don’t just want him to be healthy, you want him to be _innocent._ Exonerated, forgiven for everything in that video. That’s why you fought so hard against Sisko handing him over to Starfleet Command - if he was sent away because he was too dangerous to have near this political situation, it would be admitting that he _is_ dangerous, and you don’t want that.”

Julian stared up at the ceiling to avoid meeting her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.

“There’s no evidence that, even if he did do everything the video accuses him of, it was the same him as in that room.” He nodded towards the closed door to Sephiroth’s room. He had not left it since he woke up.

“Aside from the fact that one person usually stays that person over time, practically by definition. And there's no doubt that he _is_ who Cloud Strife meant.” Jadzia raised an eyebrow. “Tell me why you’re so obsessed with this.”

Julian didn’t answer.

“It’s alright,” she said, more gently than before. “I supported you on keeping him here, didn’t I? You can trust me.”

He spoke quietly, and didn’t look at her, but he responded. “It’s the enhancements. I’ve never met anyone else who isn’t natural and I can’t help but think about all the things people say about the genetically enhanced, and how much of it just isn't true.

“Genetic enhancement is illegal for a reason, Julian. I know what your parents did to you isn’t your fault, but there's good logic behind that law.’

‘I know, I know. And I agree with it - if it were legal then everyone would have it done to their children, and those who didn’t would be put at an unfair disadvantage. And it’s so easy for it to go wrong, and the cost of that is so high." Julian was almost pleading now. "But still, it doesn’t always go wrong and when it does, it doesn’t always produce psychopaths and killers.”

“And you want Sephiroth to prove that?”

“...Yes.” His voice was raw. “I can tell he’s been enhanced, far beyond anything I’ve ever heard of, but he doesn’t have to be insane or psychotic because of it. The least we can do is give him the benefit of the doubt.”

She slid off the desk and put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “I hope you’re right about him, I really do.” She squeezed gently, then let go. “But you can’t let it cloud your judgement. If he turns out to be just what the video says he is, and not who he seems like so far, we can’t have you refusing to admit it, or taking it personally that he isn’t what you hoped.”

“I understand.”

She looked at Julian, taking in his tense bearing and the pinched look on his face, then pulled him into a hug. He held himself stiff, but she didn't pull away, and finally he hugged her back. After a minute they separated and he chuckled dryly.

“Thanks. I needed that.”

“No problem. What are friends for?”

He gave her a smile that was a little thin, but still sincere, then went back to the computer. This time when he went over the test he pointed out the features that marked the cells as extraordinary, and she could follow along as he noted the results that had him so enthralled earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all your encouragement! Your comments make me want to write faster, so keep them coming!
> 
> I want there to be consequences from everything that happened in the game for Sephiroth in this, but I also don't want those consequences to stall the story. I guess this chapter is me trying to get things to a state where stuff can happen without brushing off the effects of what happened. Thoughts?
> 
> Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!


	7. Garak

Garak sat in a corner of the Replimat, watching the goings on of the station. He was amusing himself by guessing the secrets the people around him weren't telling each other - it was so easy when you knew what to look for.

For example, the Bajoran woman who ran the shop selling natural soaps was pregnant, and her husband didn't know. It was obvious from the way she rested her hands over her belly and the confused look said husband was giving the truly bizarre array of pickled fruit and hot sauce on her plate, suggesting it was not a normal preference. 

Garak shuddered. He had been living among non-Cardassians for years, but sometimes he still had a hard time adjusting to their diets. Particularly humans, and their taste for sweets. The first time he had seen Dr. Bashir indulging in a pastry - it had to be more sugar than anything else by weight! - he had felt quite shocked.

Speaking of the good doctor, he was approaching now, along with Lieutenant Commander Dax. And someone else - who might this be?

The new person was following behind the other two, and from the way he was looking around, it must be his first time on the station. A friend, come for a visit perhaps? No, he didn't seem any more familiar with Dax and Julian than the station itself, and the way they looked at him was less friendly and more expectant, as though they were waiting for the results of an experiment that would tell them whether or not he was their enemy.

He certainly looked unusual: as far as Garak knew, there were no species with hair such a shade of silver and so human an appearance, though mixed parentage certainly could not be ruled out. Hair _and_ eyes like that, he amended as they grew closer, letting him see the vertical pupils and faint but distinct green glow. He was dressed in gray clothing so plain it made the tailor in Garak wince. Perhaps he would offer to get him something nicer, that might provide an opportunity to investigate further.

"Garak! Good to see you!"

"Hello Doctor. Have you finished  _ A Tale of the Red Desert _ yet?"

"No, I'm afraid I've been rather preoccupied the last few days."

"Ah, I see. That wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the mission to Empok Nor five days ago, or your new friend, would it?"

"Your ability to know things you have no way of knowing continues to impress."

"I do try my dear doctor. And good afternoon, Lieutenant Commander. Might the two of you be so kind as to introduce me to your companion?"

Dax responded, "Garak, this is Sephiroth. Sephiroth, this is Garak, the unofficial resident Cardassian liaison." Her sarcastic tone implied he was only unofficial because he would refuse to accept any job from Starfleet, not because they wouldn't hire him.

"Goodness me, I remember the days when I was just a simple tailor. How times change."

Julian laughed lightly. "Don't listen to a word he says. You can never be sure what's true."

Garak smiled innocently at him, but his attention was focused on Sephiroth. The human was standing awkwardly to the side, trying to take in everything around them while also trying not to look out of place. He wasn't bad at going unobserved, especially for someone whose appearance drew such attention, but certainly not Obsidian Order material. While his posture and bearing screamed military, Garak would be shocked if he had ever had any intelligence training.

This was also his first time seeing a Cardassian if the way he was trying not to stare at Garak was anything to go by. Not so unusual in and of itself, but the blank look on his face was hiding total confusion rather than the silent judgement he normally got from humans who had never met one of his people before. Garak found it a welcome change.

"Why don't you go and get your food and come and join me to eat? We can all get to know each other then." Garak hoped they would take the bait and give him a bit more time with this new mystery.

"Good idea. Sephiroth, why don't you wait with Garak? We'll bring you something."

The silver haired human nodded and cautiously settled at the table. Garak noted that he chose the chair in the second best position to observe the Replimat and the Promenade outside; the best was, of course, already occupied by Garak himself.

"So, what brings you to Deep Space Nine, Sephiroth?"

Garak got a guarded look and a long silence before Sephiroth finally answered. 

"It's complicated."

Definitely no intelligence training: even the newest operative would have an answer better than that. Unless he was  _ trying _ to look suspicious.

"What an… enlightening answer. Perhaps you could instead tell me about how you know Dax and Bashir?"

"I met them for the first time the day before yesterday."

"Really? Then you must have other reasons for being on Deep Space Nine. You might still tell me where you're from - I pride myself on being able to place an accent even through the Universal Translator, but I am utterly lost with yours."

Sephiroth was giving him the carefully blank look again. He was beginning to think it was covering surprise, which was quite interesting. The question had been highly innocuous and the admittance to being able to recognize accents despite the translator, while unusual, was not unduly so - nothing that he would expect to merit the honest shock Sephiroth seemed to be hiding under the blank mask.

"I'm from very far away from here. You won't have heard of it."

Said with utter conviction, not a question but a statement of fact - it could even be a threat.

"Everywhere is far from here, except Bajor and Cardassia. And the Gamma Quadrant of course, though I'm not sure it's entirely fair to count distance through the Wormhole."

The blank look had not changed and Garak was beginning to wonder if he had misjudged its meaning. Perhaps it was simply his regular expression. 

Deciding it might work a little better to talk about himself to start, he tried a new topic. "I have grown to like it though. Far from everywhere it may be, and filled with a great many people who do not want to get along - with each other or with me - but it is strangely pleasant once you have adjusted."

Sephiroth was hesitant, but he did respond to the switch towards small talk. "How long have you lived here?"

"Since the Occupation - I never left. I admit, I didn't like it much at first, but I've found it has its good points," he replied airily, doing his best to draw Sephiroth into the conversation.

As they discussed inconsequential matters, with Garak doing most of the talking and Sephiroth giving the bare minimum of responses, the Cardassian had a chance to analyze him properly.

Sephiroth was definitely military, and probably held - or had held - a commanding role. He was not used to following orders, nor comfortable with it. He either knew next to nothing about Deep Space Nine, or was trying exceptionally hard to not reveal anything, even things which anyone visiting would certainly know, such as the fact that shuttles came and went regularly.

He was also ill, though trying to hide it. Garak was no great judge of human health - that was the job of those like Dr. Bashir - but he knew the way someone would stare into the distance, their breathing far too regular while trying to control pain, and the tiny shudders that wracked a body too exhausted to function but too high on adrenaline to rest. Sephiroth was certainly not alright, though his control made Garak envious. He hadn't seen anyone hold out so well against hidden agony since himself, four years prior.

Of course, all things must come to an end, and his assessment was cut short by the return of Dax and Dr. Bashir with their meals. For Sephiroth, they had brought a bowl of some sort of human soup with noodles. From the design printed on the bowl and the decoration of the provided utensils, it was a traditional dish.

For several minutes there was silence, as the others ate and Garak finished his tea. Then the Starfleet officers got down to the business of why they had chosen to eat lunch with Garak rather than ignoring him and going on with their outing.

~=~

Sephiroth listened closely as the others explained to Garak how they had found him. The story was replete with detail, and even he had not heard several parts, though he did note that they completely failed to mention Cloud's warning message. Instead, they asked him if he had heard of Sephiroth before or knew why he had been left on the abandoned station.

The answers they got were inconclusive, but Garak seemed to think that a machine like the one Sephiroth had been found in had been discovered close to the Wormhole, near the end of something called the Occupation. Sephiroth wished someone would give him an overview of the recent history of the area - it seemed that it was complex and important, but now was not the time to ask.

The emptiness in his mind was a low background ache. The food (something Wutaian? He had never had it before) helped it recede somewhat, but the bright lights made his temples throb and the noise of the restaurant only exacerbated the silence in his head. He counted his breaths, keeping them steady and regular, and hoped it would fade with time. 

"Of course I can make inquiries for you, but it would be easier if I knew more of what I was inquiring about."

Sephiroth jerked back to attention at Garak's words.

"We don't know that the tank was opened at all before it arrived here. If it wasn't, the only information anyone would have is its physical description, which we gave you." Dax's firm answer implied that she didn't want to hand over more information than that to Garak. Sephiroth didn't entirely blame her - the man seemed almost like Genesis, if Genesis had been a Turk. A dangerous combination, by anyone's standards. Though the strangeness of meeting someone who was so clearly _alien,_ not merely with slight differences like Cardez's nose ridges or Dax's spots, but obviously _not human_ had yet to wear off, the resemblance to his old friend and rival was striking. It had only been strengthened when he began to reference obscure literature.

"I see, I see. I shall have to make do with your subpar descriptions then. Have a pleasant afternoon; I leave to chase down your precious records."

"Wait! One more thing," Bashir called out.

"What is it?"

"Were there ever any Cardassian military projects, or anything from the Obsidian Order, that could have produced something like," he waved a hand vaguely at Sephiroth, "him?"

Sephiroth curled his fingers tightly into his pant leg, digging in with the nails. He was not the result of a Cardassian military project, but he  _ was  _ the final product of a corporate science experiment, which didn't seem so different. But hearing it said out loud, so bluntly too, made him think of an old basement, and the endless research notes and scientific journals that chronicled his creation. The emptiness in his mind flared warningly and he dragged his thoughts back to safer territory.

"Not to my knowledge. As far as I know, neither the military nor the Order ever put much effort into super soldiers." And with that, Garak swept away, quickly melding into the crowd despite his unusual appearance.

"We should go too, Julian. I don't know about you, but I have things to get done today. And we need to take Sephiroth back."

Sephiroth gritted his teeth, but allowed the statement. The brief outing had at least given him some idea of the layout of the station, and, at this point, if he needed to escape he would probably be able to hide for some time without being caught. Perhaps even long enough to find his way to a shuttle and stow away on it - he wasn't sure how such things worked here, but it would be worth a try.

And, he admitted to himself as they walked back to Medbay, the screaming had gotten louder again. Sleep might help keep it at bay and leave him functional again that evening. He focused on holding it back long enough to make it to Medbay, and didn't think to notice that none of them had actually told Garak what he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been wanting to bring Garak in for a while now, so I'm glad that I got him in here. I'm not sure how well I did with writing him though, so if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
> 
> Thanks so much for your wonderful comments; they keep me going! I don't usually respond, unless you ask me a question, but I read them again and again. Thank you thank you thank you!
> 
> And happy Easter to anyone who celebrates it, and happy long weekend to anyone who doesn't!


	8. Exploring

The next day, Sephiroth woke up feeling far better than before. The screaming had died down to little more than a background hum - easy to ignore if he didn't prod at it, and, aside from that, he felt completely recovered. In fact, he felt far better than he had in a long time, since Nibelheim at least. This also meant he noticed how much enforced idleness there had been recently, and the little room he stayed in seemed more like a cage every day. His hands itched for something to do: Masamune, or even materia and a good practice range - or a sparring partner.

Absently, he wondered if the various aliens here used similar exercise equipment to humans, then caught himself. _Aliens._ People who were not human, clearly not human, going about their daily business just on the other side of the door. Aliens were real; aliens of at least three (he was almost certain Dr. Bashir and Captain Sisko were human) species had talked to him; aliens had completely normal jobs and lived normal lives just like anyone on Gaia.

He wasn't sure what was stranger - that aliens were real and here and talking to him, or that they hardly seemed alien at all. Certainly they looked different, and ate different food, if the meals Garak and Dax had chosen for lunch were anything to go by, and their clothes were as odd as all the other styles here, but aside from those superficial differences, they wouldn't have been so out of place back in Midgar.

He tried to recall if Jenova was like that once, or if there had been others of her species who were normal, and she was the exception. The thought had never occurred to him before, but the emptiness surrounding his mind crept closer, so he quickly dropped it. Safer not to remember those things.

Instead, Sephiroth focused on the present. His room, claustrophobic as it was starting to feel, had an open space between the bed, table, and door that was large enough for basic exercise. The plain clothes he had been given were comfortable without being restrictive, and it felt good to move, even just to do pushups on the floor, since he didn't have room for much more than that. Once he had run down some of the restlessness, he took a shower in the attached bathroom. He had needed to be shown how that worked too, and there were still a number of controls he didn't understand (and didn't touch) but it felt good to get his hair clean of the last of the mako, blood, and ash which had probably been there since Nibelheim.

But after that, he didn't have much to do. Boredom set in again, and he returned to the door. It had been locked earlier, but since then they had allowed him out, into a civilian population no less, with only two escorts, and even they had left at one point. Perhaps, with that increase in trust, they might have forgotten to lock it again?

No harm in trying, he told himself, and tugged at the handle, without results. But he noticed something else - a panel beside the door, tiny lights flashing. Cautiously, he tapped at it, unsure of the controls.

The door slid open.

Outside was the medical facility, same as the day before. His room was near the back, tucked into a corner, and it didn't look like anyone had noticed the door opening. 

Sephiroth slipped out, and made his way to the front. The wide entrance was almost totally unwatched, and in moments he was heading off down the main street. (Corridor? Everything seemed both inside and outside: an odd effect of the space station. _ Space station. He was on a space station. Surrounded by aliens.  _ That fact was slowly sinking in.)

The street was broad and lined with small shops and other establishments. He passed the restaurant they had eaten at the day before, what might have been some sort of temple - the scent of incense drifting out its doors was nearly overwhelming to his sensitive nose, and stores selling everything from soap to clothing. Perhaps that was where Garak worked - he had mentioned being a tailor. Above the main road were two balconies on either side, connected by bridges at regular intervals, and bright decorations hanging from the high ceiling. Combined with the cheerful noise of people, it was a pleasant effect, and Sephiroth found himself enjoying the chance to be out on his own, without having to worry about fanclubs or Shinra's PR. 

Still, he didn't go completely unnoticed: heads turned, particularly at his hair and unusually plain clothes. If he weren't so used to stares, he would probably have felt quite self conscious, but he simply walked on purposefully, and they always lost interest after a moment. He evaluated them too as he went by: definitely far more than three species, though he didn't see any others like Dax or like Garak. Most people had the same nose ridges as Cardez, many more were human as best as he could tell, but he did also pass a very short man with huge ears and a bumpy, bald head, someone with blue skin and long antennae, someone else with sharply pointed ears, and far more. 

Compared to the diversity of people around him, his hair and eyes looked almost normal, he mused. This station seemed like a moderate sized town: in the equivalent of a big city, he doubted anyone would look twice at his appearance. 

It was a strange thought.

"Where are you going, my child?"

Sephiroth spun towards the voice, and found himself facing an older woman with elaborate golden-yellow robes, blonde hair coiled under a matching cap, and the same deep grooves over her nose.

"I'm just taking a walk."

"You have circled the entire Promenade twice in the last hour - I watched you pass." She pursed her lips. "A very strange walk."

He hesitated - they hadn't told him if he was expected to tell people the truth or provide them with some other story.

"Why were you watching me?"

"I needed time to think, and watching over life on the station always reassures me." She glanced around and sighed, like a queen whose kingdom was not behaving properly, or President Shinra, when someone refused to cooperate with one of his schemes.

"Come and talk with me, my child. I need a diversion after today."

He restrained a flinch at being called that, but it was not a request, so he followed her to a bench tucked away in an alcove. Behind her were two men in dark blue robes, sharing the nose ridges. He narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously, but they kept their distance. Bodyguards most likely, though they seemed older than one would expect for it.

"It seems everything is in an uproar these days. Bajor goes from one upheaval to another."

Sephiroth had no idea what she was talking about, but got the sense admitting that would be a bad idea. He nodded solemnly.

"Even now, we are caught on a knife edge. We can only balance for so long." The woman sighed heavily, then turned to him.

"What of you? I have never seen a human like you before, and you never did tell me why you were so restless. Or even give me your name."

He gave a simple answer, hoping it would be enough, but his name he didn't even try to hide. "Sephiroth. And I spent too long in my room - I wanted to stretch my legs."

"And what had you in your room so long? It must have been quite important, to have merited such attention."

"It was more that I was not supposed to leave just yet. I went without telling anyone."

"And you were making your escape before anyone found you. Well, why were you not supposed to leave?"

"I was… ill. The doctor would rather I not go out yet."

She looked him over. "You seem healthy to me, my child. Though, I admit, I have never seen a human with hair and eyes like yours before. But I have not seen many humans - during the Occupation, there was little travel, and I had never even met one of your species in person until several years ago. We Bajorans have grown much closer to the others in the galaxy in these last few years."

"I had never seen a Bajoran either, until I arrived here a few days ago."

"Really? I suppose you have had little exposure to Bajoran culture then as well."

Sephiroth nodded. The woman examined him more closely, and then smiled.

"You don't know who I am, do you."

"No. Should I?"

This was apparently a funny thing to say, as she started laughing. It was a surprisingly harsh sound, as though she had been waiting all day for a chance to release tension, and this was her only option.

"My child, I am Winn Adami, the Kai of Bajor." When this garnered little reaction, she continued "I am the planet's spiritual leader. I guide my world through harsh times, advise the Council of Ministers, and manage political affairs. I walk with the Prophets, and they grant me the wisdom to lead."

Her teeth gritted, and her tone went from pontificating to bitter. "Or they are meant to. Currently, they seem to be _indisposed."_

So this woman was practically the ruler of an _entire planet?_ That would explain her shock when he didn't recognize her- it made him wonder if there were formalities he had missed, like those in Wutai, for meeting such a high-status individual. But neither she nor her guards had taken issue with his behaviour, so there was probably nothing major.

Sephirtoth was aware that his surprise showed on his face. He didn't bother to hide it.

"You truly did not know. It has been a long time since someone did not know who I was." She sounded conflicted on whether that was a good or bad thing.

Suddenly, she reached out a hand and gripped him by the left ear. He barely registered the movement before he had grabbed her wrist and yanked it away.

A pained gasp fell from her lips, but he didn't loosen his hand.

"Let go of me! At once!"

He met her affronted gaze. "You grabbed me."

"I was sensing your  _ pagh. _ It is a common Bajoran spiritual tradition. Now let go!"

Sephiroth glared suspiciously at her, then at her guards, who looked like they wanted to interfere, but hadn't, before he cautiously released her wrist.

He regretted it instantly when her hand came up to his ear again, but this time he kept his arms at his sides, instead scowling at her ferociously.

The roaring emptiness swelled for a moment, and his vision tunneled to just her face, but he maintained the expression, and she flinched as she opened her eyes. Her fingers jerked away from his ear as though it had burned her.

"My child… What has happened? Your  _ pagh -  _ I have never felt anything like it. It is fractured, and _twisted_ with something else. It feels _wrong._ "

Kai Winn shuddered, looking at him with new eyes, as though she was searching for the stitches sewing him together. Though the screaming in his mind had receded with her fingers, he felt sure that it was what she was looking for.

Nothing was stronger than his relief that they were interrupted. The sensing of his  _ pagh _ had left him oddly rattled, and he wanted distance from the person who did it.

"Your Eminence. What are you doing here?"

The speaker was another Bajoran woman, ridges crossing the bridge of her nose. Her red uniform didn't match those of Sisko, Bashir, or Dax, but it felt like a similar idea somehow.

"Major. How good to see you again, my child."

"Likewise." The Major's face was inscrutable. "I'm afraid I'll have to steal him now - Medbay's been in a bit of an uproar since he disappeared."

"Of course. I will see you again, Sephiroth. Major." Kai Winn rose gracefully and led her attendants away into the street. 

"So you're who was in that stasis tank," the Major said, giving him an appraising look. "I guess they weren't exaggerating about your hair."

Sephiroth stood up to face her. "And you are?"

"Major Kira Nerys, ranking Bajoran officer on Deep Space Nine. Half the station's looking for you at this point - I should let them know you turned up." 

She tapped the badge on her chest, and rattled off a quick message, addressed to Dr. Bashir. She got a very relieved response, and closed off the connection - the badge must be something like a PHS.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to Medbay. Wouldn't want you getting lost again." The words were flippant, but her manner suggested that she was here less as a guide than a guard, making sure that he returned. It was almost reassuring that they were worried about having him loose on their station: increasing his confidence that he could function here, wasn't entirely outclassed by the aliens and the technology.

Kira led him back onto the main road, and as they walked, he noticed that the looks people gave them had changed. They still attracted attention, but now it was deferential glances, or even curious ones. She was well-liked and respected among the general population then, and being at her side apparently granted him some of that status.

"So why did you run out on Medbay like that? Julian's been frantic over you." Her question was friendly, and it took him a moment to respond appropriately.

"I just needed to stretch my legs. And see a little of the station."

"Cabin fever, huh? You've probably been stuck in one of their tiny rooms in the back for days - I don't blame you."

He hummed agreement, and they were silent for a minute, but he had questions to ask.

"Major, what did they tell you about me?"

"That you're human, maybe a little more than normal, and from somewhere so far off the Universal Translator had to learn your language. Anything you want to add?"

"My name is Sephiroth."

"Good to meet you, Sephiroth."

"May I ask you a question?"

"Ask away." Her boots clicked over the floor, and the people around them granted them space. No one wanted to crowd the Major, no matter how well-liked she was.

"What is the history of this station? Several times people have mentioned the Occupation, or Cardassia, or the Dominion, but I don't know what those things are."

"Ah. I see. Well, we've got a decent walk ahead of us, so settle in. 

"Years ago, Bajor was a free world, living peacefully in its section of space. Then Cardassia, always looking to expand, annexed the planet. My people fought back, but it was no use, and that's what began the Cardassian Occupation…"

~=~ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and then Kira explains all the complicated history and politics of DS9 to Sephiroth, which happens off-screen because there's a lot of it. 
> 
> Your comments mean so much to me, and I love hearing your thoughts! And kudos are the best. 
> 
> Thanks for reading: next chapter in a couple days!


	9. Kira

“So why was Kai Winn even here? Since Cardassia has already joined the Dominion, it doesn’t seem like there’s much Bajor can do. Was she trying to enlist the Federation's help?”

Kira scoffed. “Too late. If Bajor wanted the Federation’s help, we should have joined months ago, when we had the chance. As is, we can’t rely on protection from them. The captain will do his best, but he just can’t make that sort of guarantee.”

“Why didn’t you join back then?”

“Sisko told us not to. And when the Emissary says something like that, you listen.” Even when it makes no sense and he might be brain-damaged, she added in her head. “The Prophets wouldn’t have led us wrong. Though, I _do_ hope we figure out what they mean to have happen soon. Before this can go much further.”

Sephiroth hummed, frowning thoughtfully as he stared into space. Kira wondered what the Promenade looked like to him, if he could tell how empty it was compared to six or even three months ago. Shops that used to be full of customers sat dark and empty, and the people who were still around kept their heads down and went straight from one place to another without stopping to share news or greet each other. No one waved to her: they all kept out of her way, even though she had known many of them personally over the course of years of living on DS9.

“Then what was Kai Winn doing on the station, if the situation is that hopeless?”

Kira hesitated to tell him, but - it would be all over the news soon anyway. “There’s a nonaggression pact being offered with the Dominion. If she signs it, Bajor will be locked out of whatever happens.” Her fists clenched at her sides and she consciously relaxed them. “We won't be able to help or fight, no matter what comes next. And the Federation can’t be our ally if we have a treaty with the Dominion.”

“Would Bajor make a difference in the fight? From what you say, its military force is small compared to the other powers, and it is still recovering.” Sephiroth’s face was calm, either totally oblivious to the insult in his words, or purposefully trying to upset her.

Even so, he was also right. Bajor against the Dominion would be more hopeless than Bajor against Cardassia had been.

But giving the situation up as hopeless wasn't how they had driven the Cardassians away, and Kira had spent her entire life fighting unbeatable odds.

“Everything counts. And Bajor is in an important location - right by the Wormhole, which will be the Dominion’s only way into the Alpha Quadrant. Keeping it for the Federation could mean a lot when it comes down to it.”

“You’re sure there’s going to be war then? Nothing has been decided yet, from what you tell me.”

Kira's response was bitingly sarcastic. “True. The Dominion could just back off and let everyone go on with their lives, convince Gul Dukat to give up his lifelong goal of crushing the fight out of all Bajorans, and then none of this will even matter.” Wouldn’t that be wonderful, she added mentally. It was also even _less_ likely than Bajor's militia making a difference in the war.

“I take it Gul Dukat has a personal stake against Bajor?” At least Sephiroth was quick on the uptake. If the situation on the station weren’t already so precarious, she might even enjoy discussing strategy and politics with him.

"He was in charge of Bajor during the Occupation, and never supported leaving." Her lip curled in disgust. "He's obsessed with Bajor and has always wanted to make the people _accept_ him. It's never going to happen, but he thinks he's the planet's destined ruler."

"Ah." The syllable was short and clipped, and she turned to check on Sephiroth. The human had gone pale, and his jaw was clenched. Before she could offer any help, he inhaled a slow, shaky breath, and put a hand up to his head.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded sharply, but stopped walking to lean against a wall.

Kira was at a loss. There was nothing visibly wrong with him, and while she could provide perfectly good first aid, the medical skills she had picked up in the Resistance weren't much good when she didn't know what was going on.

"Sephiroth? Talk to me."

His voice was strained, but he answered. "I'll be fine in a moment. This has happened before, several times since I woke up."

"Is it an effect of the stasis?"

"I do not know. Possibly."

There was something he wasn't saying there, some further answer he didn't want to give, but she wasn't going to press when Sephiroth was putting half his weight on the wall.

Kira reached out a hand to his shoulder to support him, but he jerked away.

"Don't. I'll be fine in a moment."

"Ok. I'll wait," she said, her voice softer than before.

True to his words, within a couple minutes he dragged his eyes open and straightened up. She looked him over suspiciously, but he seemed better, if not quite well.

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows and gestured for her to keep walking, the expression on his face unreadable, but a tightness around his eyes that had not gone away.

"You going to tell me what happened there? It didn't look good."

"Before the stasis, I underwent some… difficulties. I believe they may have left me with this condition."

She opened her mouth to question him further, then shut it. He didn't seem like more prodding was a good way to go, and she didn't want to dig into old hurts.

Instead, Kira led him back to Medbay, where they were no doubt still in fits over his absence.

~=~

As Kira and Sephiroth arrived, Jadzia breathed a sigh of relief. When they had realized he was gone, it had left everyone in Medbay wracking their brains to guess if they'd seen him, while she and Julian called Odo, asking him to send out patrols, and eventually had to explain the situation to Sisko. Who had not been pleased. And had come down immediately to see what was going on. Julian had joined one of the patrols to avoid facing him.

"I see our runaway has been found, Major," the captain said.

"Yes, he has. He was talking to the Kai, when I found him on the Promenade."

"The Kai? And what were the two of you discussing?" he asked Sephiroth, tone carefully even.

"She seemed to want someone to distract her from her work for a short while. I gather that it has been stressful recently."

Sephiroth stopped there, but Kira gave him a pointed look, and he continued reluctantly. "She also did something she called 'sensing my _pagh._ '"

"Which was apparently very interesting," Kira added significantly.

"Did she ask about who you were?" Jadzia interjected.

"She did. I gave her my name and little else, though I admitted that I was new here," Sephiroth answered. "Is there a story you would like me to give people or should I tell them the truth?"

Sisko's cool voice responded. "I think that that would depend on what exactly the truth is, which it is high time we knew. Sephiroth, come with me: you are going to explain who you really are."

"He's right," Jadzia found herself saying. "We need to know what happened and why you were in that tank. I have some suspicions, but you need to tell us the real answers."

Sephiroth's eyes flicked between them, the narrow slits of his pupils constricted: Sisko solid and immovable, Jadzia with an almost empathetic look on her face, and Kira, who gave him a firm nod. At that, he gave in and relented. "Alright. My memory is blurred in some places, but it will serve. I will tell you what I can of how I ended up in that tank and who I was before. "

~=~

In a completely different section of Deep Space Nine, the Dominion Ambassador tapped his fingers impatiently on a table. The Kai had agreed to meet him for further discussions of the proposed nonaggression pact, but she was late.

The dismissal of it made Weyoun grit his perfect teeth - he was a Vorta, he deserved to be the most important thing in the day, the week, the _year_ of the leader of such a tiny planet. If it were not for Bajor's strategic location, and the importance of remaining civil before the Federation, he might not have bothered with the nonaggression treaty at all. As it was however, the order had come straight from the Founders, and he would never question Their judgement. 

And Bajor had great significance to Cardassia, which was still stung from losing it after the Occupation, which meant that he could not utterly ignore it: even though Cardassia had technically sworn loyalty to the Dominion and, through it, to him, its representative, they still wanted Bajor back. If he truly did nothing about it, Gul Dukat would merely take the fleet after the planet without his permission, which simply could not be permitted.

Even so, Kai Winn's disrespect galled him. She had seemed perfectly polite earlier that day, so he found himself wondering if the sudden tardiness was an honest delay, not a political move. Then he discarded the idea - in this sort of situation _every_ act had meaning, whether or not it was ever discussed. The only question was what she meant by making him wait - perhaps it was a power play of sorts?

The door slid back, pulling Weyoun's attention from his thoughts, and he raised his head to see the Kai stepping past the Jem'Hadar guards flanking the door.

"Your Eminence, so good to see you again!" He rose with a smile that was exactly as sincere as his use of her title. "Please sit down - make yourself comfortable."

He waited while she settled herself, her Bajoran retainers giving the Jem'Hadar uncomfortable looks and remaining standing.

"I trust you took the time to think over my proposals this afternoon?"

"I did, Weyoun, I did, and I do apologize for my lateness. I became rather involved in considering the implications."

He couldn't fault the Kai's manners. The smile on her face was as apparently warm as his, and he got the impression she was well used to creating a particular impression. It struck him as a strange quality in a religious leader, who was, after all, supposed to be open and truthful to promote the spiritual life of her followers. But them, positions of power were all the same, and besides, Weyoun had never understood the religions of those who did not worship the Founders.

Quite a contrast with the Federation captain - Sisko, he was called - who had never made a secret of his distaste for Weyoun and the Dominion, or of his opinions on whatever matter was currently at hand. Dealing with him had been refreshingly unpredictable, what with his refusal to yield his stance on such issues.

"Not a problem at all. I'm so glad to hear you gave the matter proper thought."

"Yes, and it did give me new questions to ask."

"Well, ask away. I am completely at your disposal." He accompanied his words with a charming smile and leaned forward across the table towards her. Her answering smile kept her lips pressed thinly together and she leaned away to take a set of notes from one of her attendants.

"Firstly, I must ask about the policy on travellers. Do you propose the nonaggression hold for Bajoran citizens everywhere, or only on Bajor itself, and what of off world colonies?"

Weyoun settled into the negotiations easily, baiting her into the treaty with practiced coaxing and reluctant 'concessions' of clauses he hadn't expected to keep regardless. If he could get this pact signed, it would weaken the Federation's hold over Deep Space Nine to the point of indefensiblity, and open up the Alpha Quadrant for the Dominion. The Founders were going to be so pleased with him.

~=~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter was a little all over the place, but I wanted to put Sephiroth's explanation into its own chapter, so here we are. Do you guys think it worked, or felt a bit awkward?
> 
> Next up: Sephiroth finally explains some things, and some of the others start to have their own thoughts about what happened!
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day, and thank you all so, so much for everything you've said and the kudos you've left! ❤❤❤


	10. On that day, long years ago...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this one! It was a lot of fun to write, so tell me what you think!

Captain Sisko led them back into the Medbay, Sephiroth following him, Kira and Dax at his heels, and Bashir, who had just arrived, jogging to catch up. Sisko glanced at the doctor, but apparently decided not to mention it.

Sephiroth knew it was unreasonable to feel like he was being led away to be sentenced, but he couldn't shake the sensation. It made the hairs on the back of his neck rise and his normally steady pulse accelerate. He suddenly remembered his fainting episode a couple of nights earlier, and hoped it wouldn't repeat when he told them what happened.

They didn't go back to his small bedroom. Instead, they entered a different private room, this one significantly larger, and equipped with a single bed surrounded by ranks of instruments. It was probably chosen for the its size, and table and chairs off to one side, but the single bed and amount of equipment reminded him unpleasantly of the labs at Shinra.

The captain seated himself at the center of one side of the table, his back to the door. Sephiroth sat directly across from him and the others arrayed themselves around the two of them. Sephiroth set his hands on the tabletop, in plain view of everyone.

"Alright, Sephiroth: we're all listening. If you could do your best to explain why and how you came to be where we found you, as well as the message from Cloud Strife."

"Message?"

That was Kira - apparently it hadn't been shared with everyone.

"Why don't we begin with that. Doctor, if you could show us the video found with Sephiroth's stasis tank."

Without speaking, Bashir left and returned with a tablet device similar to before. He set it at the center of the table, and it began to replay the recording he had shown Sephiroth days earlier.

Cloud's grim face gazed up at them. "I don't know who's watching this, and I really hope no one ever will. But. Just in case."

He kept going, and Sephiroth forced himself to look away from the man who'd killed him. Instead, he focused on the others. Kira and Dax were completely focused on Cloud - they must not have seen this before. Bashir was pointedly avoiding looking at any of them: the man looked almost ill. Sephiroth sympathized.

Sisko was watching Sephiroth. His hands were steepled in front of his mouth, and his gaze might have pinned down anyone else, but Sephiroth had grown up in Shinra's labs and in the corporation's own cutthroat upper echelons. He wasn't going to be intimidated: instead, he met the captain's eyes head-on and restrained his reactions when Cloud told them to run, to keep him in the tank, to not grant him power through fear.

But as Cloud went on it became harder to hold Sisko's gaze. At _completely inhuman_ he dropped his eyes to the screen. Cloud's intense blue stare wasn't much better, but at least that was just a recording. To one side Bashir was hunched into his chair, sneaking glances at the others, as though afraid they'd turn on _him_ next. It struck Sephiroth as terribly odd behavior. Jadzia's jaw was set as she stared at the screen with a detachment he recognized from Hojo. It would have been appropriate - she was the Science officer after all - if not for how forced it seemed. And Kira's earlier pleasantness had disappeared entirely, replaced with horrified realization in her wide eyes and tight lips, fading into threat as she straightened her shoulders to face him. He looked back to Cloud and kept his hands clearly visible on the table.

"He _can_ be beaten and we can do it again. Even if I'm not around anymore, don't give up hope. That will only make him stronger. Good luck. You're going to need it."

The recording ended. Sephiroth wanted to keep staring at the blank screen, as though if he didn't look up to see their reactions, he could keep them from having them. But he looked up anyway, straight at Captain Sisko.

"Since we've all seen this video, perhaps you'd like to tell us your side now?"

He took a deep breath. This was his last chance to run, to escape before they truly knew what he was. The door was unlocked, and they weren't expecting anything; he could be gone in moments. He stayed in his seat and began to speak.

"I should start at the beginning. On Gaia, a company, Shinra, became very influential. It supplanted most governments and became the world's foremost power. Shinra is - _was,_ I suppose - a power company, focused on using reactors to produce energy from mako, the same substance I was suspended in. Mako is naturally occurring and is extracted from the planet within the reactor.

"Decades ago, Shinra scientists discovered a preserved specimen in the mountains on Gaia, and named it, " saying her name through the growing roar was difficult, but Sephiroth had to, "Jenova. The President believed it was a Cetra, a member of an ancient lost race, and that it held the key to finding the fabled Promised Land, so a team of scientists was dispatched to the town of Nibelheim to study it."

Kira broke in. "I'm sorry, but you were going to explain the message, and who you are. How does this Jenova relate?"

Sephiroth barely suppressed his flinch at hearing her name again, and the screaming in his ears intensified. "I will get there. Bear with me."

Sisko gestured to continue, and Sephiroth did.

"In Nibelheim, one of the scientists, Professor Hojo, had an idea for how to deal with the fact that Jenova was just a preserved body, a corpse which was unable to speak to them. He chose to inject her cells into a human fetus in order to create a new Cetra."

He took a deep breath. The emptiness was creeping closer, a gaping hole in his mind, leeching away his thoughts and attention. He pressed through it.

"This procedure used mako to stabilize the J cells, which is where it was discovered that mako in controlled doses can grant improved speed, strength, stamina, senses, and many other abilities. This was later exploited in Shinra's SOLDIER program." They were staring at him. He wondered if any of them had put the pieces together yet.

"The fetus enhanced with Jenova's cells and mako was me. I was raised in Shinra's labs, and, once it was clear I would be no help in finding the Promised Land, I was repurposed for military use."

"This is _ridiculous._ " Everyone turned to Bashir. "Us sitting here like this, like he's on trial, it's _ridiculous._ He's the result of unethical experiments he never consented to - he shouldn't be here like a criminal for those enhancements." The doctor showed more emotion that Sephiroth had ever seen on him, obviously committed to his defense. It would have been heartening, if that were the issue at hand, or if he knew more than the tiniest fraction of what Jenova made Sephiroth.

"Julian! Let him finish. Sephiroth is here to tell us who he is, not to be found guilty of any crimes." Dax's tone made Bashir snap his mouth shut and cross his arms. 

The captain was not pleased either. "You will restrain yourself while Sephiroth finishes, doctor. And kindly remember that we are here for an explanation of the message on the tank as well." The last part was pointedly directed at Sephiroth.

"Of course." He took a moment to gather his thoughts against the screaming, and noticed Dax looking at him with something approaching concern. Sephiroth broke eye contact and went on. "I was a SOLDIER First Class and the General of Shinra's military. When I was a teenager, war was declared with Wutai, the last power on Gaia that was not subservient to Shinra. I won that war as the General."

Genesis and Angeal came into the story at this point, but he couldn't bring himself to mention them. Nor Zack. Zack - had he killed Zack? He remembered trying, his blade already soaked in blood and his mother behind him. The emptiness surged and his vision became fuzzy, like television static, failure of transmission between his eyes and his brain, interrupted by _her_ … 

_Her voice,_

_Faded and distant,_

_but **there,** almost beyond the edge of his hearing…_

"-phiroth! Sephiroth! Can you hear me?"

He blinked, and Dax's face came vaguely into focus.

"He's awake. Only temporary loss of consciousness, shouldn't be any further effects." Bashir's voice was brittle.

Sephiroth sat up from where he had collapsed over the table. His cheek hurt where he'd fallen on it. A fainting spell, similar to before. Every one of his instincts screamed to stop telling them, stop it before the emptiness burned deeper than he could control, deeper than he could stop, deeper than he could survive.

But Sisko's jaw was set, and he did not look like a man who would be dissuaded from hearing the whole story.

Sephiroth waved Bashir away, with a murmured reassurance, and lifted his chin. Dax didn't seem happy, but she sat back down beside Kira, who spoke up.

"Go on, Sephiroth. It will be better once it's all out."

She was right. It needed to get out. He took a steadying breath.

"Where was I, when I stopped?"

"You were a general, and won a war with Wutai."

"Yes. Several years after the end of the war, I was sent on a mission to Nibelheim to deal with reports of dangerous monsters near there. I came upon Jenova, still preserved in the reactor and grew suspicious." The screaming was getting louder again, the closer he came to _her._ Much more, and it would take over all he could hear or see or think.

"Everything had been abandoned years before, but I found the research notes from my own creation. Before then, I hadn't known any details, and learning them for the first time was… upsetting."

Sisko's face remained unreadable behind his folded hands. He had barely moved since they sat down. Dax was definitely concerned, and Kira seemed almost conflicted. Bashir was looking anywhere but at him, and his hands were clenched into tight fists.

"Jenova has the ability to communicate telepathically with those who share her cells, which was not previously known. While I studied the research notes in the laboratories, she spoke to me."

The emptiness had reached a fever pitch at the thought of the first time he had heard her clearly. In retrospect it had happened before, when he was very young, but it had always been dismissed as a child's fantasy, and he quickly learned not to mention it. Now, the absence of her gentle, confident, _reassuring_ croon was so piercing he was amazed his ears weren't bleeding.

Not that he would notice if they were. He'd be lucky to notice if someone broke his fingers right now.

"I have never known anything about whatever parents I have, except for my mother's name: Jenova. When she spoke to me, everything made sense."

His voice seemed distant, like someone else was talking.

"After this point, my memories are increasingly blurred. I massacred the townspeople and burned the village. I went to the reactor and found my mother. A cadet from the mission threw me into the reservoir under the reactor, and I died in the pure mako, with Mother beside me."

There was a green glow over the room. He wondered if it was the haze of mako and Lifestream, or merely his own eyes.

"I waited for years, gathering strength, until I had enough power to strike out again. I used clones of myself created by Shinra to find the Black Materia, and used it to summon a Meteor to wound the planet. I planned to absorb the energy of the Lifestream when it impacted - I would have become a god! If only _he_ had not stopped me."

Sephiroth slammed a hand onto the screen on the table, shattering it. He was on his feet already, and the shock and _fear_ on the faces turned up to him felt _right._

His voice went from a shout to a low, menacing hiss. "I returned, but they caught me again, and _locked me away._ I was entombed in mako and left to drift in the Lifestream itself. It took an eternity of waiting in the dark, but I knew I would be freed."

A chill laugh he had never before heard from his own throat shook his chest.

"And I was. At last, you came and _woke. Me. Up."_ His vision was clearer than it had been since he first regained consciousness on Deep Space Nine. Everything seemed edged with bright, hard, light. "Cloud - my little puppet - was right. You should have run the moment you found that machine. There is _no one_ here who can stand up to me, and _nothing_ that could possibly stop me."

He raised his hand and Masamune came to his call, as it always had.

"Thank you for helping me remember, little mortals. As gratitude, your deaths may be quick."

~=~


	11. Imprisoned

Julian stared in frozen horror as Sephiroth raised his left hand and a massive, seven-foot-long sword appeared.

"Thank you for helping me remember, little mortals. As gratitude, your deaths may be quick."

There was a cold, vicious smile on Sephiroth's lips, and the mad light in his eyes looked somehow right: like the whole time Julian had known the man, he had been subconsciously waiting for this.

"Sephiroth. We're not your enemies. Stand down." Sisko was on his feet too, doing his best to stand up to Sephiroth, but he didn't seem intimidated. He only inclined his head with regal dignity, drawing attention to the fact that he was several inches taller than the captain.

He was also very fast - Sisko barely ducked out of the way of the strike from the enormous blade.

Julian could hear Kira calling for backup, and distantly thought that it was an excellent idea. He would have himself, if he weren't so busy diving behind a row of instruments.

Breathing heavily, he snuck a look out at the room.

Sephiroth had sliced the table in two as though it were paper, and now stood in the wreckage, looking utterly relaxed.

"You cannot stop me. Die quickly here, or die later with everyone else - it makes little difference." He flicked his sword idly, and stepped towards the doors.

Which flew open to admit Odo and a team of security officers. They didn't hesitate for a moment, opening fire from their phasers.

Sephiroth dodged with inhuman speed, but the combined attack was too much, and a shot caught him in the side. Julian was traitorously glad that phasers had a stun setting - he still couldn't bring himself to want Sephiroth dead.

He collapsed to the ground, unconscious, silver hair spread around him, sword still clutched in his hand.

"I heard you needed some help in here. Did he decide that cooperation wasn't such an appealing idea?" Odo asked.

Sisko stood up, brushing off his uniform. "Sephiroth seemed reasonable enough for most of the discussion, but when he revealed his past, he… changed."

The constable surveyed the destruction pointedly. "Perhaps he decided that he would rather attack than explain himself?"

"I don't think that's it." Julian was shocked to realize that that was his own voice, and, from the looks everyone else turned to him, they were as well.

"What do _you_ think it was, doctor?" said Sisko. "Because to me, it looked like he confessed to massacring an entire town and attempting to destroy his home planet, and then proceeded to try to kill us!"

"He as good as said he was being controlled by Jenova." Julian sounded desperate, even to his own ears. "I think she might still be influencing him - he's not well, remember how he keeps losing consciousness, or going unresponsive? I think that 'Sephiroth' isn't the only person in his head."

"That might be true." They turned to Jadzia as she got up. "It's not easy to keep track of who you are when your mind is connected to another being."

Julian nodded frantically. "Jadzia is a Joined Trill - if anyone would know how someone whose mind isn't entirely their own would behave-"

"Now wait a moment!" called Kira from where she'd taken cover near the door. "He said nothing about being mind controlled. We all heard his story, and he only mentioned being spoken to. You can't just absolve him of what he's done because you don't want your patient to be put in prison."

"And even if he was sharing a mind that closely, it's no guarantee that the other entity - Jenova - would have had control," Jadzia added with an apologetic look at Julian. "It's still his body. With any sort of telepathy, whose body is whose makes a huge difference."

Julian looked back at Sephiroth. Collapsed on the ground, his face had gone slack, losing its cruel smile and cold eyes. He looked exactly like the man Julian had been getting to know for days.

"I'm just saying we should give him a chance." The words came out more raw than he had meant them to. "Something strange is going on, and we still don't know what it is. We can't pass judgement yet."

The room was silent. No one would meet his eyes, though Jadzia frowned in sympathy as she looked down at Sephiroth.

Finally Kira spoke. "Even if all of your theory is true, and Jenova was controlling his mind, and now he's had enough time or distance to be able to fight back, it doesn't change what happened before." Her eyes had the flinty look normally reserved for dealing with the Cardassians, or anything relating to the Occupation of Bajor. "He was the general of an army that conquered his whole world, and I didn't get the feeling they paid a lot of attention to honorable warfare. Regardless of everything else, he still has to take responsibility for that."

Julian hung his head. "I know. I know. But he was also very young at the time - he said he was a teenager during the war with Wutai - and time in the military on its own isn't enough to condemn him. I'd expect  _ you _ to know that, Major." The last words came out biting and caustic.

Kira practically growled "I was part of the Resistance, and I have only ever fought to defend my people! I am  _ nothing _ like-"

"Enough!" Sisko declared. "Constable, take him away. See that he is safely contained before he regains consciousness. Doctor, follow along to provide medical attention. Starfleet does not deny medical aid to people in its care, no matter what the situation. The rest of you, return to your duties. We have plenty to do aside from this." He scanned over the room one more time. "And someone, please,  _ deal with this table." _

~=~

Julian watched Sephiroth in the detention cell. His sword had been confiscated, but, considering how he had summoned it directly to himself earlier, that wouldn't do much good. As such, his hands were cuffed behind his back and he was supervised by two guards stationed outside the door, as well as through the security cameras Julian was using. He had regained consciousness not long after being secured, but still hadn't moved: merely sat on the cell's narrow cot, head hanging low. He made no attempts to stand up or speak.

Julian felt awful. He wasn't sure if it was for trusting Sephiroth so instinctively just because he was also enhanced, nearly getting them all killed as a result, or for not even noticing what was wrong with him before it took over.

Because there  _ had _ been something wrong. Ever since the beginning, whenever certain subjects came up, or even for no discernible reason, Sephiroth would become distant and pained. He had even lost consciousness once before that fateful conversation, and Julian had _seen it._ He had known it wasn't normal, but he'd let it go because things were moving so fast and Sephiroth seemed so - _sane._ Functional. Exactly what Julian had wanted him to be.

Julian had failed in his duties, as a doctor and as a Starfleet officer, by not taking care of his patient and by trusting someone they had no reason to trust. His neglect had nearly gotten himself and many others killed. As he stepped into Sephiroth's cell, he resolved not to make the same mistake again.

~=~

The cell had grey walls. They were slightly darker than concrete, lighter than the dull steel common in Shinra. Five steps took him across the length of it, three across the width. It contained a low cot, a toilet, and a sink. Sephiroth couldn't see any cameras, though he was sure they were there, and the door could only be opened from the outside. He was brought food three times a day, by armed guards who did not speak to him, and the plastic dishes were taken away the moment he was done eating.

He could not fault Starfleet. His detention was just, and certainly easier to bear than the last time he had been kept prisoner. That had been in Wutai, and though they hadn't possessed the resources or knowledge to properly contain the Silver General, it hadn't kept them from trying. Sephiroth's escape had not been easy, for him or for them.

Doctor Bashir appeared at times, to check on his health and to question him: about the moments when the absence roared to the front of his mind as well as, of course, about his final episode in the Medbay. He hadn't expected to be visited by any of the others after that incident, but Dax had appeared too, and made some effort to draw him into conversation. Sephiroth barely responded, and eventually she left. But they both kept coming back.

His memories of those last few minutes were blurred, just like his memories from after Nibelheim, but he knew what he had done, and was quietly grateful that the security force had intervened when they did.

He did his best to answer the doctor's questions, and when the emptiness came to the front, he requested that they stop. He told himself he didn't want another episode to further damage whatever trust in him remained, but deep down, he suspected that he didn't want to hurt anyone else.

Time passed. At first Sephiroth thought they would attempt to keep him ignorant of the passing days, as a way of unmooring him and breaking him down, but when he asked, Bashir happily told him he had been in the cell for a week. Sephiroth had to remind himself he was not a prisoner of war, and was imprisoned for his own safety as much as theirs.

When he requested it, they provided him with entertainment. One of their tablets, set up so it could do nothing but display several (preapproved, he assumed) novels and a couple of games. The novels were interesting, and the games, an enjoyable diversion.

As the days went by, shying away from the emptiness in his head whenever it appeared, he had to admit that it could have been much worse.

~=~

Sisko gazed at the plans in defeat. They were clear - in order to place the mines around the Wormhole, the Defiant would need a minimum of four hours. Hours where she could not cloak, could not attack, could not even take evasive action. Hours where they would be a sitting duck for the Dominion while they tried to cut off the convoys.

Weyoun wanted to see him. The Dominion ambassador had gotten wind of what Starfleet was planning and would do anything to prevent them from cutting off those ships. Sisko didn’t have much choice but to meet with him.

He stood up from his desk, and found himself somewhere else. Blank white light surrounded him, the way it always did for visions from the Prophets. He turned around slowly, and the whiteness resolved into the room where they had interviewed Sephiroth, two weeks before. 

“What do you want to tell me?” he asked. They had better have a reason for this vision.

Jadzia looked up at him. Of course, it wasn’t actually her, just one of the Wormhole’s alien inhabitants.

“You have met the Calamity’s son. He is on your station.”

Bashir turned to him next. “He is locked away. He cannot be moved.”

Sisko frowned in confusion, then he got it. “You mean Sephiroth. He tried to kill us - the only reason he’s still on Deep Space Nine at all is that some of my senior staff practically begged me to keep him here until we have a conclusive answer on what's going on.”

The image of Sephiroth himself spoke. “He needs to be brought to us. You are our Emissary - you will send him to us.”

“Why do you want to see him? And how do I know he won’t take the chance to escape?”

“He is not your enemy.” It was Kira. “Take him to us and we can separate him and the Calamity.”

“What do you mean, the Calamity?” Then it clicked. “Jenova? You can separate them?”

“We can,” the Prophet-Sephiroth said. “Send him to us, Emissary.”

The room winked out, and Sisko was back in his office. And he was late for Weyoun - he left immediately, already considering putting Sephiroth on the Defiant when it went to set the mines.

~=~ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's up a little later than usual, but at least I have some idea where I want this story to go now. I added a chapter count of fifteen, but it's still rough and could change up or (less likely) down. 
> 
> I honestly feel like this chapter's pretty awkward in a lot of ways and later ones might not get better. But I don't want to leave the story incomplete, so I'd rather give it an ending that I'm not 100% satisfied with than none at all. Otherwise I know I'll never finish, which I really don't want.
> 
> Thanks so much for your encouragement, and feel free to share your thoughts! I love hearing what you think, and I am so grateful to everyone who's left a comment or kudos!


	12. Building Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed a couple lines in the last chapter - nothing too important, just shortened how long Sephiroth was imprisoned to two weeks. I realized that that was enough of a time skip to match DS9 canon, so there we go.

The meeting with Weyoun did not go well. Or, in another interpretation, it went swimmingly: after all, Sisko now knew what the Dominion was planning. Said plan being an imminent attack on the station was, however, unfortunate. As he was leaving, the ambassador turned around.

"Oh, and Captain?"

"Yes, Weyoun?"

"I've heard that an away team of yours took some valuable pieces of equipment from an old Cardassian station - Empok Nor, I believe it was."

Which was where they had found Sephiroth. The Prophets' words rang in Sisko's head. "I wouldn't know anything about valuable equipment. We did make a salvage mission to the station some time ago, nothing more than looking for spare parts."

"Well, naturally." Weyoun's too-friendly smile was back in full force. "Even so, the  _ Cardassians  _ are wondering what your people may have taken, and I'd  _ so  _ appreciate the opportunity to reassure them it was nothing important."

If the Cardassians had the slightest idea this conversation was occurring, Sisko would eat his baseball glove: Weyoun wanted the information for himself, or possibly the Founders. 

But even so, he had no idea how much surveillance was still functioning on Empok Nor, and thus how much Weyoun already knew.

"I don't recall every detail of a mission many weeks ago - it's been a busy time for Deep Space Nine, you know." 

"Oh, I'm sure it has, Captain, and I'm so sorry to bother you with these things, but, well." A deep breath and a contemplative glance downwards. "As I mentioned before, the Cardassians are a trifle paranoid right now, and I'd love to be able to reassure them it was nothing interesting."

It seemed he wasn't going to be put off.

"We did find one odd machine - it seemed to be producing  _ lifesigns _ if you can believe it."

Weyoun perked up immediately. "Oh? And what, pray tell, did you do with this odd machine?"

"Well, as Starfleet mandates rescue and protection for abandoned or lost persons under any circumstances, we of course brought the machine back to Deep Space Nine for further investigation."

The Vorta was definitely paying attention now, his violet eyes intent on Sisko's face, searching for the seams of falsehood in his story.

"However, once it was disconnected from the original station and brought here, the lifesigns soon ceased. I would guess they were merely a malfunction resulting from Empok Nor's long abandonment."

"What an anticlimactic end to the story." Weyoun crooned sadly, but underneath, he looked smug - pleased at the lack of silver-haired, heavily enhanced, world killing, supersoldiers in the tale? "Might I still look at the machine? Since it  _ is  _ broken, I'd be happy to take it off your hands."

Sisko waved a hand in lazy disinterest. "Go ahead. Keep it if you'd like; I imagine the Cardassians will find it reassuring."

Weyoun frowned. "The Cardassians?"

"The Cardassians, who are so jittery at the thought of Starfleet visiting Empok Nor?"

He had to hand it to Weyoun: he recovered very fast.

"Oh yes, the Cardassians!" Jovial and friendly, all over, in an instant. "Yes, they will be most pleased; this is just the thing to pacify them a bit." He turned back to the door, mission over for today. "Well, then, send me the machine, and I'll let you get back to your busy schedule, Captain."

~=~

The guard who had brought Sephiroth's lunch today seemed distracted. She couldn't stop fidgeting, and when he finished and moved away so she could take the dishes (they generally preferred he not directly approach them), she didn't notice until he specifically pointed it out to her. After she left with the tray, he found himself wondering what was going on. Bashir and Dax often spoke about life on the station, but never shared anything sensitive, and though he had access to some news on the device - a padd, he had learned - Sephiroth suspected that 'current' by the standards of Deep Space Nine was a great deal more novel than in the general news sources it gave him access to.

He settled down on his bed with the padd anyway. At least it was something, and the room was feeling very enclosed. It felt like longer than it had been, barely two weeks, but even if he could escape and managed to get off the station without being followed, he wasn't sure he wanted to be among civilians where he might be a threat. If he hadn't been knocked out when he had after telling his story, he would have killed people. He had fully intended to - Sephiroth remembered that much.

The door slid open and Bashir entered. At this point Sephiroth knew him well enough to see a bit of the same tension as in the guard earlier, though he tried to hide it.

"Good morning, Sephiroth."

He nodded acknowledgement.

The doctor leaned against the wall, shoulders slumping visibly. "How are you doing?"

"Tolerably."

Bashir's mouth twitched into a frown. "I know this has been hard on you. I'm sorry for that."

Sephiroth didn't answer.

Bashir sighed heavily. "I really am. I don't - The captain is just-" He broke off and stared hard at the blank wall. "I know what it's like to have to be apart from everyone, because you're different, when it isn't your fault."

"I am here because I am a threat. I am unnatural and dangerous." Sephiroth knew his voice was blank and emotionless. He couldn't bring himself to force any life into it.

Bashir flinched, but didn't break eye contact with the wall. "I know that feeling too. Genetic enhancement, for anything less than serious congenital illnesses, is illegal in the Federation. Doesn't stop people from having it done to their children, on occasion."

Sephiroth was paying attention now, leaving his padd abandoned.

"When I was little, I was… slow. The other children were learning to read, and I was still figuring out what shapes were what. My parents didn't like that. They wanted me to have the best, to  _ be  _ the best. When I was six, they did something about it." Bashir paused, gave Sephiroth a sidelong glance. "The exact procedure they had done isn't important, only that it was very illegal and very effective. It made me faster, smarter - improved my senses, stamina, let me metabolize drugs and compounds humans normally can't, a whole host of  _ improvements. _ " He was staring right at Sephiroth by now, shoulders square, jaw set.

"I hid it my whole life - I had to. No other way to be a doctor, to serve in Starfleet. But I never forgot that I didn't belong, that everything I had, I had through a lie. Until a few months ago."

He stopped talking and Sephiroth was curious despite himself. "What happened?"

"It all came out. What they'd done, what I was, everything." His lips quirked in a smile. "And it was _alright._ I mean- no, it was a big issue, and I was all set up to resign quietly, but they let me keep my job. My friends here supported me, and my parents had the legal responsibility for it, not me. I was a child: there was nothing I could have done."

Sephiroth shifted uncomfortably, on the plain bed in his small cell. The look Bashir was giving him was far more understanding than he wanted to face.

"Why are you bringing this up to me now?"

"Because I think you could stand to be reminded of that too. I want you to remember that what was done to you before you were born isn't your fault, and it doesn't make you worth less than anyone else. And, from what I understood of Jenova, what you did under her control isn't truly your fault either."

Sephiroth found himself looking away, avoiding Bashir's warm, kind eyes.

"You didn't answer my question. I've been here for two weeks. What's changed?"

And _now_ he broke eye contact. Whatever had happened today, it wasn't totally good news. In fact, by the tone of what Bashir had said, he could have been sending a last message - saying goodbye.

"The captain has decided to send you along on the Defiant when it goes to set the minefield around the Wormhole."

Sephiroth nodded slowly. He knew what the Wormhole was, and by context, the Defiant was a ship. The minefield though… 

Bashir must have seen his lack of comprehension, because he went on. "We've decided to place mines around the mouth of the Wormhole to stop the Dominion's convoys. It's the most solid act of aggression between us and them so far though - this isn't going to end cleanly."

That made sense. The first act of a war. 

"Why am I going along? Isn't he worried that I might lose control?" The absence swelled warning at the very thought, and Sephiroth dragged his mind back to safer areas.

"I don't know." Bashir checked a small device. "But we have to go now - I volunteered to take you." He stepped closer and offered Sephiroth a hand up. "And, please, think about what I said."

Sephiroth looked between his face and his hand, before taking it and getting to his feet. He didn't respond, but he did give Bashir a nod, which received an ear-to-ear smile in response.

~=~

"You've got the ship all set for this?"

"As much as I ever will." Jadzia looked over the Defiant's bridge one more time. Depending on how you viewed it, this mission would be the last one in peace who knew how long. Or the first one in war. "Are you ready for what happens next?"

Kira blew out a heavy breath. "You mean am I ready to surrender to Gul Dukat and watch all of you fly away?" She squared her shoulders. "Am I  _ ready? _ No. Am I prepared? Yes. Yes, I am."

"Has Bajor signed the nonaggression treaty yet?"

"Just this morning. It feels a little like the Occupation all over again. Except this time we're giving in before they've even arrived."

Jadzia didn't quite know what to say to that. But she had to say something. "You're not giving in - it's to keep Bajor out of this, isn't it?"

"Deep Space Nine will be going back to the Cardassians if nothing else. And I need to be here to keep them in hand."

"Well, if anyone could manage it, it would be you. Gul Dukat won't know what hit him."

That made Kira laugh a little. "What about you? You're going to be out there setting the mines while the Dominion tries to take you down."

"Well," Jadzia smirked. "I might be the Science Officer, but I'm still a damn good pilot."

Kira grinned back, then frowned again. "But one more thing: Sisko's sending Sephiroth with you, isn't he?"

"Yes - we'll actually be going through the Wormhole before we set the minefield. Apparently the Wormhole aliens were very insistent that Sephiroth brought to them." Jadzia knew that her skeptical tone suggested that she didn't entirely trust said Wormhole aliens' judgement, which probably wouldn't go over well with her Bajoran friend.

But Kira's defense of the Prophets was half-hearted, as though she had her own doubts about this course of action. "I'm sure the Prophets have the best interests of Bajor at heart. I only… wonder what they think they can do with him. I didn't get the impression that who he once was is still in there, even if that were someone we'd want to trust."

"I'm not so sure," Jazia returned. "I've been thinking a lot about Sephiroth and Jenova in the last couple of weeks, and I've been visiting him. It's not the same as with the Trill, but even so - when I was Joined, Jadzia didn't disappear. She gained a great deal, and shared a great deal, but she didn't cease to exist. I'm still here, just with… more. I don't think who Sephiroth was before is gone, in fact I doubt how much Jenova's still there at all."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Then what do you think happened two weeks ago?"

"I think that was… an echo, of a sort. I don't think Jenova is completely gone, just receded. Most of the time, he's nothing like that, and he can tell when that side is coming forward. Even try to stop it."

Kira breathed out. "I hope you're right, Jadzia." She cracked a grim smile. "For once, you and the Prophets agree on something that I have a hard time with - I guess I'll just have to keep my faith a little longer."

~=~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of this story is coming up! Still a couple chapters to go, I think, but I (for the first time, to be honest) know what's going to happen.
> 
> I'm actually ok with how this chapter turned out - and I'm glad I finally got to write the scene where Julian and Sephiroth talk about being enhanced. I've wanted to from the beginning, but it took me a while to get there.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, kudoing, commenting, everything! Tell me what you think!


	13. Approaching the Wormhole

The Defiant was surprisingly spartan. Sephiroth wasn’t sure what he had expected, but the somewhat cramped hallways, abundance of technology, and lack of decoration felt more military than anything else he had seen so far. Which made sense - this ship was meant for war, while Deep Space Nine was simply a town with military significance. The crewmembers' tension reminded him of soldiers before a mission: joking to hide their nerves, while obsessively checking small details. 

Dax met up with him and Bashir, and the doctor took his leave. She led him to a private room just off of a main corridor.

“Here we are. We’ll be on our way in a few minutes - you can be on the bridge for at least the first part of the mission, but I wanted to talk to you while they’re finishing with prepping the ship.”

She turned to face him directly. Sephiroth felt slightly uncomfortable with the intense clarity in her blue eyes, and wondered for the first time how old she was: Dax didn’t look like she could be past her early thirties, but the depth of her eyes made her look much older. She was a Trill, if he remembered correctly - did they age differently from humans?

“You’re here because the captain believes the Wormhole aliens may be able to separate you from Jenova.”

Sephiroth restrained a shudder at the name, and the emptiness began to press in around his mind. He did his best to keep his thoughts from aggravating it.

“Sephiroth? Can you tell me how much it seems like Jenova is still there?”

It was a struggle to answer while holding on to himself against the absence, but he had been practicing. “I feel the same as ever, for the most part. But when… certain topics come up, I can feel where she used to be. I’ve been trying to push it back when it happens.”

“Then _that's_ what’s going on when you go quiet for a moment.”

“Yes.”

“So what happened two weeks ago, from your point of view?”

The lurking emptiness was drawing closer, but he could almost avoid it. Keep part of his mind on other things, on what was going on  _ right now,  _ on his own thoughts about the present. It at least slowed down the creeping absence.

“Thinking about her usually triggers a feeling of loss, emptiness. Normally, the topic changes or I can push it away, but that day, I kept going. It… filled my mind, somehow, and after that my memory is blurred, similar to my memories from after Nibelheim on Gaia. I remember what happened, but only barely, and it doesn’t feel like I was myself.”

Dax hummed thoughtfully. “You know that I’m a Trill, right, Sephiroth?”

Sephiroth nodded.

“Has anyone told you about the Trill’s Symbionts?”

“No.”

“On our home planet, there was another intelligent species, very long-lived, but less physically durable and less numerous, than the Trill. They would look a bit like large worms to you. We evolved to work together, and, eventually, for Trills to Join with Symbionts - have one surgically implanted in their bodies, sharing their Symbiont’s memories and personality, and those of its previous hosts.”

Sephiroth’s expression must have shown some of his mixed confusion and the beginnings of disgust, because Dax laughed.

"You know, I've had to explain Joining to a lot of non-Trills before, and they always react like that.  _ 'Why would you ever want a worm living inside you?'  _ But it's not like that - it's an honour to be Joined, to experience the wisdom of your past lives and become more than who you were before. There aren't very many Symbionts, so the competition for one is harsh, but that doesn't stop us from trying, because it's wonderful. Joining with Dax, and becoming more than just Jadzia, was the best thing in my life, and I wouldn't give up what it made me for anything."

Dax's - Jadzia's? - face was utterly sincere, and her eyes shone. But at the same time, he couldn't ignore the spots making their way down the sides of her face and neck, the only visible indicator that she wasn't human. He had never felt her alienness so keenly before.

"You're Joined?"

"Yes. Less than a decade ago, I was Joined to the Dax Symbiont. Jadzia is my given name." She looked back at Sephiroth and gave him a small smile. "I'm telling you this so you believe me when I say I know something about sharing a mind. Dax is part of me; separating us would kill me. But even so, Jadzia isn't gone, and neither are any of my past lives. And I know enough about sharing a mind to be able to say that what happened with you is very different."

She took a deep breath. “As best as I can tell, you and Jenova never fully merged - that’s why your memories are blurred, and why her influence is so diminished since you’re away from Gaia now.”

The emptiness was roaring, and Sephiroth could hardly hear her through it. He tried to focus, on her blue eyes, the too-cool air of the little room, the faint scent of cleaning products, anything to ground himself.

It helped. He managed to ask a question. “Then why can I still feel her?”

“I don’t think that’s what’s going on - maybe she’s left some imprint on your mind, which is what appeared two weeks ago, but most of what’s going on is damage, probably from how she was removed - splitting two minds is harmful in its own right. For Trill, if our Symbiont is removed, we die. This isn’t quite that extreme, but it’s similar in some ways.”

“Do you think that the aliens in the Wormhole can remove the rest of her then.”

“The captain does. And I certainly hope so.”

The badge on Dax’s uniform chirped, and then a voice issued from it.

“Ready to leave, Commander.”

She gave an affirmative, then looked back to Sephiroth. “And, our time's up. I’ll tell you a bit about the Wormhole aliens on our way there.”

~=~

The screen over the front of the bridge lit up as they entered the Wormhole. Bright lights danced across it, and for a moment Sephiroth thought it was beautiful. Then the lights swelled until the whole screen was pure white, shining brighter and brighter. The bridge of the Defiant disappeared, leaving the blank whiteness surrounded him on all sides.

Sephiroth was very grateful that he’d been warned about what to expect when it resolved into a familiar room: the basement of the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. He was standing by a bookshelf, with Zack before him.

"You have arrived, Calamity's Son." 

"...I hear you asked for me."

"We did," came a new voice from behind him. Sephiroth whirled around to see Hojo, years younger, as he must have appeared when he used this study. "You are a crack in the gates. The gates must be closed."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"The Calamity lives in you." The environment shifted again, to the town square in Nibelheim, the day they had arrived on that fateful mission. One of the troopers - Cloud, it was  _ Cloud  _ \- was speaking. "While it lives in you, it can reach through to us. It must be destroyed, the link must be broken."

The other trooper added "It is so simple to reach us from Gaia's Lifestream. You passed through by accident, but then you opened the door to  _ her." _

The world shifted around him again, this time resolving into fuzzy blue sky and swirling white clouds. Sephiroth winced in anticipation of the emptiness, but it didn't come - something about the Wormhole held it back.

One of Cloud's companions, Tifa, he thought, spoke next. "We can save you. We can break the Calamity's hold, kill the connection."

Sephiroth gathered himself. "Will that affect me? Can you heal the  _ damage  _ Dax told me about?"

Another - Barret? - responded. "We will only remove the Calamity. Whatever is not a part of her will remain unharmed."

The red, lionlike creature was next. "Your scars are your own. They will heal or remain regardless of this."

To have Jenova gone, to be free of her… Sephiroth didn't know what that would mean. He didn't know how much of who he was was only because of her cells, how much of him this would take with it.

But he didn't want to be a hazard forever. He had never been very sociable, but a life of isolation for everyone's safety was not what he wanted, and he had found over the last few weeks that he hated idleness. He needed to be free enough to function on his own.

He couldn't go on like he had been.

Cloud stepped forward. His rival's blue eyes were cold as ice and as distant as the 'sky' around them. 

"You must agree. We cannot do this without your permission."

"Yes. Do it."

Cloud nodded and raised his hand. He had to reach as high as he could to set it on Sephiroth's forehead, and when he did, the world was ripped away. Sephiroth might have screamed - he couldn't tell - as the emptiness returned, stronger than it had ever been before. It clawed at him, the silent roaring deafening in his head. Or was it a scream? It felt almost like it was fighting back, struggling against whatever Cloud was doing to him, before Sephiroth fell into merciful unconsciousness. 

~=~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's up later than usual and I didn't edit it as much as I normally do either...sorry.
> 
> I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, so I'd appreciate another opinion, if you feel like offering yours.
> 
> And thank you so much for reading about this strange little idea that I decided to write down!


	14. A Chance for Goodbye

"Yoohoo! Wake up!"

"Come on, Seph. I don't know how long we'll be able to stay."

Sephiroth was lying on his back. The surface under him wasn't exactly soft, but it wasn't too uncomfortable either.

Was he in the labs? His head ached in a way that made him suspect the answer was yes, but that voice… It didn't fit.

"Are you sure you want him awake?"

"I know what happened, Spiky, but he was still my friend before. Please, give him a chance, and then you'll never have to see him again."

Sephiroth dragged his eyes open, squinting at the warm, bright light.

Above him, someone's face swam into focus. Spiky hair, glowing eyes… he almost thought it was _Cloud_ for a moment, before he recognized him.

"Zack? What are you doing here?" Sephiroth asked, finding his voice rough and gritty. He swallowed over his dry throat.

"Came to see you. Aerith managed to bring us here from the Lifestream, just for a bit."

Hands were on his shoulders, pulling him up, and Sephiroth shook him off. He could sit on his own. Zack pulled away regretfully.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Sephiroth said, realizing as he did that he really was. The emptiness was gone. The headache pulsing behind his temples was all that was left, and he could already feel it fading. "Are we still in the Wormhole?" Around them was a field of flowers. The sky above glowed blue and the yellow and white blossoms and green grass under their feet were vibrant and alive.

"Yes," came another voice. A young woman with a pink ribbon in her hair knelt down from where she'd been standing over him . "The Planet was willing to send us here to speak to you. We can't stay much longer, but Zack wanted to say goodbye."

Sephiroth nodded numbly as he recognized her. The way her hair ribbon had fluttered as she slumped down limply over his sword, the screams from her friends…

"I…" He hesitated, but Aerith was staring at him and he had to finish the thought. "I'm sorry. For killing you. I'm sorry."

_"Really?_ You're apologizing now? After everything's over?" A few steps away, the third voice from earlier turned out to be Cloud. He advanced on Sephiroth, fury in every motion. "After she's dead, after the world _survived_ and _moved on,_ you're going to say sorry now?!"

Sephiroth wanted to snap at him, ask when else he could have said this, shout that it had been Jenova, not him, but Zack's grip on his shoulder stopped him. And when he looked back at Cloud, he could see the pain behind his anger, the raw hurt that had never fully healed.

He lowered his head instead, and let Zack speak for him.

"Cloud. Jenova's gone. And Sephiroth isn't what she made him into anymore."

Cloud's jaw clenched and he spun away from Zack's gentle eyes. He crossed his arms and took a deep breath. "You know, when I was a kid, you were my hero. I was planning to ask for your autograph in Nibelheim. Maybe on one of my posters of you."

Sephiroth had an idea for how to smooth things over, just a tiny bit. He wasn't sure if it would go over well, but he tried saying it anyway. "You can have it now if you want."

Cloud turned back to him, his mouth pulled into a scowl, about to respond, and Sephiroth went on before he could. "But only if I can have yours."

Cloud just stared at him. His mouth was still open, but no sound came out.

"You must be famous now, since you're more of a hero than I ever was, no matter how much Shinra talked me up. So."

Sephiroth stood up carefully. "Cadet Strife, may I have your autograph?"

The Wormhole rang with silence for a moment.

Then Aerith started laughing. The sound started off delicate and sweet, suited to her appearance, but quickly broke down into choked guffaw at the dumbfounded look Cloud continued to give Sephiroth. He still hadn't managed to close his mouth.

Zack joined in and Sephiroth felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Before him, Cloud's shock slowly morphed into affront before collapsing into reluctant amusement. 

He held out a hand to Aerith, who (still gasping for breath) pulled a pen and a notebook out of the air with a green shimmer. Cloud opened the book, and, very deliberately, signed his name on the front page. He ripped it off and handed the sheet to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth took it and carefully folded it and put it in his pocket.

Cloud held out the pen and notebook to him. "And yours?"

Sephiroth took them and scrawled out the official signature he'd always had for fans. His hand still knew the motion, even though it had been who-knew-how-many years since he'd last written it. It seemed strange to be giving it to Cloud, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Hey, not looking for my autograph? Come on, I'm a hero too!"

"I see you all the time, Zack. Why would I need your autograph?" Cloud deadpanned, not looking away from Sephiroth.

"You could still ask for one! What about you, Seph? _You_ don't see me every day."

Sephiroth was about to refuse, then he thought better of it. "Am I going back? To Gaia?"

"No." That was Aerith. "I'm sorry, but the Planet would never let you return. It barely let us come to visit you, and this is just the once."

Sephiroth found it suddenly hard to swallow. "So this is goodbye."

"Yeah," Zack said, all the laughter gone from his voice. "I never got to say it, to anyone, but everyone else I got to see again, in the Lifestream. You though..." He took a shuddering breath and pulled Sephiroth into a hug. 

Sephiroth placed a hesitant hand between Zack's shoulder blades as his friend squeezed him tight. Zack gripped the back of Sephiroth's neck and dragged him closer. He might have been a ghost, but he felt warm and solid, and Sephiroth leaned into the contact.

After a minute Zack let go, and Sephiroth opened the notebook again. Two sheets had been ripped out, but there were plenty of pages left. He scratched out his signature again, and gave the page to Zack.

Who took it with a watery grin, and hugged him again. 

"None for me?" Aerith's smile seemed genuine, and Sephiroth could see a little more of why Zack liked her so much. He wrote his name again and passed it to the girl he'd killed, and watched her expression light up in honest gratitude.

"Give me that-" Zack grabbed the notebook, and wrote his own name down, then passed the pen to Aerith and had her do the same. "Here. Now you have something to remember us by."

Sephiroth took the papers, but paused. "Will these even stay, once I'm back on the Defiant?"

"The Defiant?"

"They should," Aerith cut Zack off. "Speaking of, we'll have to go back soon."

Sephiroth nodded. "Thank you for coming to see me. One more thing though…"

"Go on," said Zack.

"Genesis and Angeal. Did they… not want to be here?"

"Oh." Zack's face fell. "They would have wanted to - I'm sure! - but they were absorbed into the Lifestream a long time ago."

"I think they wanted to rest," added Aerith. "I'm still here because I'm a Cetra - and I'm happy to stay and be the Planet's interpreter as best I can. But most souls don't hang around for long. Most people let go and rejoin the Lifestream."

"And I'm here mostly to keep Aerith company - couldn't leave her to be a Goddess all by herself. And I like watching as things happen in the world, even if I can't be a part of them anymore," Zack chimed in.

Sephiroth nodded slowly. "And you, Cloud? Why are you still here?"

Cloud's expression went stony, and he didn't answer for a long time. But eventually, he did.

"Waiting for you, I suppose. I could never really convince myself you weren't coming back - even after we put you in that tank, I half expected you every day. And I knew I'd have to be the one to defeat you, so I always had to be ready."

Guilt welled up in Sephiroth again. It wasn't a feeling he was accustomed too, but he'd been getting used to it in the past few weeks. "I'm sorry to you too. For everything I did."

Cloud shrugged, somehow making the motion both bitter and resigned. "Not much you can change about it now. And like they said, that wasn't entirely you. Who knows, maybe after we go, I'll be able to rest. You won't be coming back this time, I believe that."

He was right. Sephiroth was surprised to realize that he didn't mind. It seemed likely that, with Jenova gone, Deep Space Nine might be a pleasant place to live, and if it wasn't, apparently there was an entire galaxy of options. Places where everyone looked so different from everyone else that he wouldn't be immediately set apart, something that had never been an option in Shinra, Midgar, or anywhere else on Gaia.

And even if he could go back, what would he do? The way they talked, Cloud had lived out his life and been dead for some time - the world would have changed. and even if time hadn't passed, Sephiroth wouldn't want to work for Shinra any longer, and he didn't know how else he could make a living. His history there would always follow him, and he had nowhere to go except for back to the people who had made him that way.

Sephiroth wouldn't be returning to Gaia, and he didn't mind.

"No I won't be." His voice still came out raw, despite his decision. "I hope you get a chance to rest, when you are ready."

Cloud dipped his head and crossed his arms again.

Zack gave Sephiroth a smile, and a sloppy salute. "Good luck. I hope your next life goes better than your last one."

"It could hardly go worse," Cloud muttered, and, though Zack and Aerith pretended not to hear, Sephiroth found it strangely reassuring how Cloud's voice had lost much of its bitterness.

"Goodbye, Sephiroth. I'm sorry for what happened to you." Aerith was beginning to glow around the edges.

Sephiroth tried to say something, something memorable for the last people he would ever see who knew him from before, but he had always been hopeless at finding the right words. When he gave speeches for Shinra, they had been prepared for him, and all he had to do was read and look at the cameras.

He ended up just murmuring "Goodbye. Thank you," before Zack, Cloud, and Aerith faded into green light and disappeared.

Then the field of flowers dissolved too and he was on the bridge of the Defiant, with Dax giving him a suspicious look, surrounded by people who had never heard of the Silver General or the Demon of Wutai or the Calamity's Son.

~=~


	15. An Ending (A Fresh Start)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are! Sorry for the long update, and I hope you've enjoyed the ride!

After they came back through the Wormhole, Jadzia had plenty to keep her busy, what with setting the minefield while struggling to avoid the Dominion's attacks. But she still noticed that Sephiroth seemed different somehow: clearly the Wormhole aliens had indeed spoken to him, and whatever they did, it had helped. He seemed happier than she had ever seen him.

Sephiroth remained on the bridge, and she didn't tell him to leave. The look on his face as he watched the viewscreen, showing the Wormhole ahead of them and Deep Space Nine, Bajor, and its sun nearby, with the shimmering stars behind, was too awestruck. She didn't have the heart to ask him to go. This was his first flight in a spaceship after all; he deserved to see the view.

The attack from Cardassia and the Dominion's ships was bad, but they made it. And once the mines were set, they could finally turn back to DS9. Jadzia couldn't dim the smile on her face as she told the captain that they'd successfully completed both parts of their mission.

And at last, back on the station, reporting back to Sisko in person, she had the chance to ask Sephiroth what happened to him with the Wormhole aliens.

~=~

Julian listened as Sephiroth recounted his experience in the Wormhole. Half of him was paying proper attention to the words, the story of seeing his friends from Gaia again, but half of him was noticing Sephiroth himself.

He was calmer, more assured. Julian had never seen him so relaxed, like a source of pain was gone and he could stand up straighter without it. Julian had instantly believed that Jenova was gone, and would have regardless of what Sephiroth said: it was obvious that something had changed about him, and Julian couldn't imagine what else it could be.

At last Sephiroth brought his recount to a close. There was silence for a moment and Sisko nodded solemnly. 

"I'm very glad to hear that the Prophets could help you. Of course, you must be upset at not being able to return to your home, but even so. This is wonderful news."

"There wouldn't have been much left for me to return to there," Sephiroth responded wryly. "I gather that a great deal of time passed on Gaia while I was in the Mako tank. Everyone I knew would be dead. And even if they weren't, everyone I knew well already was."

There was an awkward pause.

"Then you will have to decide where to go now," said Sisko after a moment. "Starfleet will be leaving very soon because of the Dominion's invasion, so you don't have long."

Jadzia frowned. "Would he even be able to stay on the station? I realize the Bajorans are protected by the nonaggression treaty, but I doubt it would apply to him."

"No, it would not," responded Sisko. "In fact, I would rather keep him as far from the Dominion as possible.” He turned to Sephiroth. “While you were away, I heard from Gul Dukat that Weyoun has been very interested in you. I suspect they first realized something was happening when we got you from Empok Nor, and Weyoun at least partially recognized the tank for what it was, even though the Cardassians hadn't.”

“I think I'd also rather stay away from the Dominion,” Sephiroth said. “I've spent enough time working for evil empires,” he muttered under his breath.

Julian hadn’t said anything much so far, but he had been talking to Garak earlier, and it had given him an idea.

“I have a suggestion.” They all turned to him. “Sephiroth should come with Starfleet, in a role similar to Garak’s - an informal consultant if you will.” Sephiroth looked skeptical, but Julian kept going. “You could be helpful - we have a war coming, and you _were_ a general on Gaia. I suspect you could be quite an asset to us later on.”

“I would allow that.” Sisko seemed quite pleased with the idea. “If later you decide that you'd rather stay on a Federation world, we’ll find somewhere to drop you off, but in the meantime, I’m more than willing to keep you close.”

"It's a good plan," added Jadzia. "Since you can't stay on Deep Space Nine when the Federation leaves, if you come with us, we'll be able to keep you away from the Dominion. And besides," she smirked, "I'm still working on understanding how Mako works, and I _don't_ want to lose the only person out there with any information."

Sephiroth looked somewhat taken aback, no, more than that. He looked like they had dumped a bucket of water over his head from behind.

"...Thank you." But was a smile tugging on his lips, so Julian didn't think the idea upset him. "I would be very glad to stay with you and help however I can."

"It's settled then." Sisko was already turning towards his screens. "I have the rest of the evacuation to manage, and I'm sure Dr. Bashir and Commander Dax have plenty to do in their own departments as well. Would you see to it that Sephiroth is settled as we leave?"

"Yes, Captain!" Julian said with a grin. He wasn't happy to be leaving the station, but bringing Sephiroth with made it seem a bit more cheerful.

And besides. They would be back. This was a retreat, not a total loss. Kira and Odo would hold the station for them during this second Cardassian Occupation, and then they could return.

As he headed back to Medbay, with Sephiroth at his side, he glanced over at the room Sephiroth had been staying in while he was there. It seemed so long ago that he had been wondering when (if) the stranger would wake up, and who he would turn out to be. The low-level fear he'd felt back then had faded quickly, and had never really come back. 

He'd been afraid of Sephiroth - no, not him, he hadn't even known his name yet, just the _idea_ of him, of who he might turn out to be - for two reasons. The first, that he would be everyone's nightmare of the enhanced, a madman bent on destruction with no thought for anyone else, and the second, much deeper fear, that whatever he was would turn the others against Julian. That Sephiroth's actions wouldn't just get him punished, but Julian as well by association. That, on seeing him, they would realize what Julian truly was as well, and abandon him like he'd expected them to before.

Those fears hadn't come true. Well, the first one almost had, but even then, it hadn't happened the way it did in Julian's nightmares. And none of the others had even held it against him. None of them had compared him to Sephiroth. None of them had suggested they would have much in common. They hadn't treated him differently once they learned about the enhancements before, and they hadn't started now.

It was calming in some deep way, and Julian felt comforted, not just by how no one's trust in him had seemed diminished, but also by how willing they were to give Sephiroth a chance. It was reassuring, and despite everything else going on, he couldn't help but feel a little glad that he'd gotten the chance to see the proof that his friends really did trust him.

~=~ 

"Oh, hello again. I didn't expect to see _you_ here."

"Hello, Garak."

Garak gave him a smile - mildly frustrated, but still friendly. A safe expression, far from the dangerous, sharp-edged smirk he might have once given to someone he found where they weren't supposed to be. Federation trust must be rubbing off on him.

"May I ask what you are doing in my quarters… Sephiroth, was it?"

"It seems we have been set to room together. I gather that we are pressed for space on this ship."

"I see. And you're coming with us, then?"

"Apparently they thought it would be easiest to keep all their half-legal civilian consultants in one room."

The human's tone was perfectly emotionless, but there was a subtle quirk in one eyebrow, and Garak gave a small chuckle over the joke.

"I see you've been sucked into the Federation as well. Take my advice - run, as soon as you can." Sephiroth raised his eyebrows and Garak went on. "You'll never get out otherwise, and before you know it, you're on a ship flying _away_ from your people, and helping out on missions as a matter of course."

"Once that happens, do they ever let you go?"

Garak smiled again. He was trying for a devilish smirk, but it came out far more sincere than he had wanted. "Not that I've found. I wouldn't know about the Federation at large, but these ones? Unswervingly loyal. I think some of them may trust me more sincerely than most _Cardassians_ ever did."

Sephiroth looked away, but Garak saw his shoulders relax slightly. "They seem very… forgiving."

"That they are. And who are we to destroy such naivete? No, for the sake of such innocence, it's all we can do to try to be better ourselves."

And now it was Garak's turn to get an unwillingly sincere smile from Sephiroth.

~=~

As the Defiant flew away from Deep Space Nine, Captain Benjamin Sisko knew they would be back. He had known it even before he left - after all, he left behind the old baseball from his desk, and he would never let that go without a plan to get it back - but now he was certain.

Jake was still there.

 _His son_ was still there. 

They would be back, and when Sisko was done hugging his son for a thousand years, he would never let him out of his sight again, but they had to start winning this war first.

And there was one solitary bright spot in Sisko's day: they had a new resource, who just might end up proving invaluable in combat. And if Sephiroth didn't prove immediately useful to them - well. At least he wasn't in enemy hands. They'd drop him off on some out-of-the-way planet, and go on with the fight.

But by the look on their strange new civilian consultant's face, that wasn't going to happen.

And by the way Dax and Bashir had stayed by his side, how Garak had not objected to being assigned to room with him, and even Kira had seemed to be warming up, Sisko wasn't the only person glad to have him around.

(And Sisko had to admit, while Sephiroth would help them a great deal, that hadn't been why he had agreed to let him stay. He fit in with them, and they already knew it. It wouldn't take long at all for him to be a part of the team. 

And their team would be all the better for it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Done. I don't feel entirely confident about this, but I wanted to be able to post. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! It lights up my whole day to know that someone out there read this and liked it, even a little, so again, thank you so, so much! Actually posting something meant a lot to me when I started and the excitement still hasn't worn off. This is my first fanfic (first writing much of anything, really) and it's been really wonderful to see other people reading it.
> 
> I love you all. Leave me a comment if you want to tell me what you thought, and stay safe out there!


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